{"id":26193,"date":"2020-03-23T11:59:53","date_gmt":"2020-03-23T15:59:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sciencescosmaincms.cm.ucf.edu\/news\/?p=26193"},"modified":"2020-03-23T11:59:53","modified_gmt":"2020-03-23T15:59:53","slug":"forensic-scientists-harness-pollen-power-to-fight-crime","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/forensic-scientists-harness-pollen-power-to-fight-crime\/","title":{"rendered":"Forensic Scientists Harness Pollen Power to Fight Crime"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Luz

Luz Kelley<\/p><\/div>\n

Pollen gets a bad rap this time of year for its allergy-induced itchy eyes and sniffles. But researchers at the National Center for Forensic Science are harnessing its crime-fighting power.<\/p>\n

That fine, grainy powder staining your windshield yellow holds a wealth of genetic information about its plant origin. Mapping out a precise DNA picture falls to Luz Kelley, a doctoral student with a passion for chemistry, who just received a fellowship from the National Institute of Justice for this research.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s pretty cool knowing that we can play in fighting crime using something as common as plants,\u201d Kelley said.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Bryan McCullough<\/p><\/div>\n

The concept isn\u2019t new, but technology is making it easier than ever to track criminals and solve crimes. Picture this:Law enforcement intercepts a batch of methamphetamine cooked in a lab hidden deep in the woods. Tests reveal pine pollen which, thanks to work done by Kelley in Dr. Matthieu Baudelet\u2019s lab, can be tracked to a type of pine unique to a certain area. Or, pine pollen swabbed from a suspect\u2019s vehicle help investigators track his or her path. It\u2019s akin to tracing to a cell phone to a tower.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re really only limited by your imagination,\u201d Kelley said.<\/p>\n

One of the innovations DNA is advancing is increasing the accuracy of pollen testing. A trained botanist looking under a microscope at a pollen grain can identify the grain with relative accuracy. DNA analysis can identify a plant with far more quantifiable certainty \u2014 and from the field.<\/p>\n

Kelley\u2019s work has been possible thanks to Bryan McCullough\u2019s work, her doctorate colleague, \u00a0who devised a way to extract the pollen DNA without destroying the grain. Success will allow more DNA to be tested from a sample, and preserve the pollen grain as critical evidence.<\/p>\n

All of these promises a bright future for fighting crime with pollen, but it still doesn\u2019t solve Kelley\u2019s pollen allergy.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m allergic to just about every sample we process,\u201d Kelley said with a laugh. \u201cI\u2019ve just had to make my peace with pollen.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pollen gets a bad rap this time of year for its allergy-induced itchy eyes and sniffles. But researchers at the National Center for Forensic Science are harnessing its crime-fighting power. That fine, grainy powder staining your windshield yellow holds a wealth of genetic information about its plant origin. Mapping out a precise DNA picture falls […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":134,"featured_media":26194,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[35,38,7,28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26193","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chemistry-departments","category-breaking-news","category-forensic-science","category-top-news"],"yoast_head":"\nForensic Scientists Harness Pollen Power to Fight Crime - College of Sciences News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/forensic-scientists-harness-pollen-power-to-fight-crime\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Forensic Scientists Harness Pollen Power to Fight Crime - College of Sciences News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Pollen gets a bad rap this time of year for its allergy-induced itchy eyes and sniffles. 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