'Miami' Utilizes Fingerprint Technology

See Also: 'Power Trip' Episode Guide

A real-life gadget helps the CSIs get their guy.

The November 24 episode of CSI: Miami, "Power Trip", will feature a piece of real forensic technology developed at Purdue University. The fingerprint analysis tool was created by professor R. Graham Cooks. It evaluates a fingerprint's chemical signature, and it can uncover fingerprints that are covered by more recent prints. The device can also determine what a person recently handled and create an image of the fingerprint for searching purposes.

"The analysis of a fingerprint's chemical signature plays an important role in solving the case," Cooks said in a press release. "It is gratifying to have technology we developed featured in such a popular show because it is important to highlight the practical applications that come from scientific endeavors." The tool was developed using technology called desorption electrospray ionization, or DESI.

"The CSI series shows science in an exciting and entertaining way, which has a great impact in garnering students' interest in these fields," said Pete Kissinger, CEO of Prosolia Inc, the company that commercialized the DESI technology. "It shows how the chemistry they learn in class leads to advances in diagnosis and treatment of disease, detection of potential security threats and forensics, including many of the tools and tests shown on CSI."

"We were excited about the DESI technology because it allowed us to get fingerprint evidence, something we do a lot of on the show, in a way we’d never done," Miami writer Matt Partney said. Corey Evett, another writer for the show, continued, "The fact that the technology was so new helped immensely. DESI highlights just how quickly technology changes in the field of crime scene investigation."

The original press release can be read at Inside INdiana Business.

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