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"Bacterial clock" may help determine the time of death

American researchers monitoring the state of corpses at a forensic center in Texas have identified that from the signature of the bacteria on the corpse and the accessories the victim touched before his death, many things can be learned about the corpse, including the exact time of death

murder scene Illustration: shutterstock
murder scene Illustration: shutterstock

A team of researchers from Sam Houston University in Huntsville Texas and the Southern Forensic Center operates a facility known as a "corpse farm" where the scientists examine the bacterial signatures of human corpses over time to learn about the decay process and how it is affected by the weather, the seasons of the year, animals and insect attacks.

One of the current studies coming out of this institute, led by Prof. Noah Pirer, sheds light on the potential for developing a new tool for criminal identification (forensic tool) - identifying the time of death according to the signature of bacteria left on memory cards or computer mice, an idea considered interesting enough to appear in the series TV: CSI Crime Scene.

The researchers used genome mapping equipment from the Illumina company from California. The data was processed at the next-generation gene tiling facility at the University of Colorado in Bolander.

This study states that the collection of bacterial genomes found in the human body provides a database of information about the history of the body," said Rob Knight, professor of chemistry and biochemistry and a scientist at the beginning of his career at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. "Future studies will allow us to understand how much we can learn from the study of bacteria also about events that preceded death - such as diet, lifestyle and travel.

"There is no single legal tool that is useful in all scenarios, every tool has a certain degree of uncertainty," says the chief researcher. ” But given our results and our experience with the bacteria there is reason to believe that we can reduce some of this uncertainty and see this technique as a complementary means of providing a better estimate of death in humans. "

to the notice of the researchers

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