The invention of dr inż. Aneta Lewkowicz concerning an innovative method for visualising dactyloscopic traces has been granted protection by the Polish Patent Office. The invention will significantly affect the acquisition of fingerprint impressions made on difficult surfaces.

The search for new ways of visualising dactyloscopic traces and less toxic solutions using 1,8-diazafluoren-9-one (DFO) is particularly important in terms of the development of forensic science.

Traditional methods of examining fingerprint marks with DFO on absorbent/porous surfaces are based on toxic solvents that are not suitable for use on thermal paper. Revealing dactyloscopic traces from these surfaces is sometimes difficult due to the fact that the components of the revealing solution present react with the components of the thermal paper.

A new method for visualising fingerprint prints from highly absorbent surfaces, such as plain paper or thermal paper, could represent a breakthrough in dactyloscopy.

‘The method I have developed differs from those previously used with DFO, as it allows fingerprint prints to be revealed on thermal paper,' says dr Aneta Lewkowicz. ‘The intensive development of communication tools, especially in electronic form, has not ruled out recording, for example, government documents on thermal paper. What is more, in everyday use, we have to deal with receipts that are printed on this particular type of paper. Any image on thermal paper, including, but not limited to, applied fingerprint prints, can be very unstable, especially during its disclosure. The biggest risk is the darkening/reddening of the entire surface of the paper when using solutions to visualise dactyloscopic traces. The procedure I developed avoided this phenomenon and, in addition, significantly reduced the toxicity of the solutions used, which allowed it to go outside the laboratory, i.e. become useful at the scene.’

The effective visualisation of fingerprint prints was possible due to the performed characterisation of the spectroscopic properties of DFO. For the first time, attention was drawn to the very high importance of aggregation processes in the creation of new spectroscopically active and useful forms during the disclosure of forensic traces, with particular reference to fingerprint prints. Studies in the field of time-resolved methods allowed us to confirm that during the visualisation of dactyloscopic traces on thermal paper, it was the stable DFO dimer obtained by optimising aggregation processes that led to the enhancement of this process.

The presented result brings a significant advance in the derivation of new fluorescence-active structures without the need for complex organic syntheses, often using toxic co-reagents.

Dr hab. Wojciech Zalewski, prof. UG, Dean of the Faculty of Law and Administration, comments on the obtaining of the patent: ‘This invention of dr Aneta Lewkowicz, which is important for forensic science, was created within the organisational framework of the Faculty of Law and Administration of the University of Gdańsk. This is a unique situation in which this kind of work is undertaken at the Faculty of Law. We are proud that the strategy of our development built up over the years is bearing such fruit.’

Prof. dr hab. Piotr Bojarski, Director of the Institute of Experimental Physics and head of the Department of Biomaterials and Medical Physics at the UG, comments on the results of the inventor's research work as follows:

‘I am delighted that dr Aneta Lewkowicz, my former doctoral student and currently a member of staff at the Department of Biomaterials and Medical Physics, has successfully applied the knowledge and research tools of our scientific interests to the development of a separate scientific speciality, namely forensic science. Her thoughtful efforts, supported by good interdisciplinary collaboration, led to a national patent. I hope that this success will translate into commercialisation carried out at UG.’

The scientist was supported in the preparation of the patent description by dr Krzysztof Czub from the UG's Faculty of Arts and Sciences. The process of filing the patent application with the Polish Patent Office was coordinated by the Technology Transfer Office UG , which also manages the commercialisation process of inventions at UG.