Improvements in forensic technologies help law enforcement identify suspects and solve cases more quickly. Intisar Al-Hatlani is a pioneer in analytical chemistry in Kuwait, as she works to achieve the goals she dreamed of while she was in school. About this, the analytical chemistry specialist at Kuwait University said: “I used to follow all the TV programs that dealt with solving crime mysteries. I would see them using the same tools that we have in our lab. I know the episodes weren't realistic, but it was so engaging to me. I saw how chemistry is being used in a real and important field, and all I wanted to do was do it.”
Al-Hatlani's interest in analytical chemistry grew at the University of Hull in the United Kingdom, where she spent her scholarship to complete her postgraduate studies, and the required major was analytical chemistry. The winner of the 2020 Jaber Al-Ahmad Prize for Young Researchers in the Field of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, awarded by the Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Sciences (KFAS), said: “I found it really fascinating. If you can analyze something to determine what it contains and how much, you can answer many questions.” Her interest in the subject stems in part from the challenge of solving puzzles. Comparing scientific research to solving a crime, she said, "You have several clues and they are all important, but it is up to you to decide which one is more important. Chemical analysis may help by extracting as much information as possible from each piece of evidence.”
For example, fingerprints have been a staple for detectives for more than a century, but experts like Al-Hatlani can get a lot more out of them than was previously possible. Al-Hatlani said that fingerprints are “more than just a print,” and analyzing them in various ways can provide information about race or gender, among other details.
Some of her research has focused on improving our ability to use fingerprints to tell not only who the owner is but also what object was in his hand. Discovering and identifying traces of drugs when analyzing fingerprints can be very useful in determining what happened at the crime scene, especially with the exacerbation of the drug problem in Kuwait.
Al-Hatlani investigates this by looking at a modification of the surface-assisted laser desorption/ionization (SALDI) technique. It shines a laser on the sample, ionizes it, and then determines what the ionized particles are using a mass spectrometer, a very precise technique. Al-Hatlani developed the process when she wondered if the method could be improved by spraying fingerprints with metal oxide nanoparticles. When they tried the idea, members of Al-Hatlani's team found that it reduced background noise that could muddy the analysis. The researchers were able to reliably detect traces of the drug on the fingerprints after a week, after the samples were stored at cool or moderate temperatures.
Her team is now working to extract more information from the fingerprints. One student is working to identify traces of cosmetics in fingerprints, and perhaps even the specific brand, while another student is trying to discover more information about the “self-characteristics” – or the characteristics of the person who left the fingerprint. Identifying a person's traits from a small sample of saliva. She spent her sabbatical at Igor Lednev's lab at the University at Albany, learning the technique of Raman spectroscopy. When Raman spectroscopy is used, the sample is illuminated with a laser and changes in the energy of the emitted photons are used to determine the sample's molecular composition. Lednev admired al-Hatlani's work and said: “We immediately realized that she had an excellent background and a lot of experience in spectroscopy and spectrometry. Her research was excellent in my lab, and we published a joint paper in the most prestigious scientific journal in the field.”
The research paper that was on the cover of that issue of the magazine dealt with whether the trace saliva came from a smoker. By training a machine learning system on Raman spectra from smokers and non-smokers, the researchers developed a model that can accurately identify the source of a sample. “This is probably very useful for law enforcement, especially at the beginning of the investigation, because it will provide additional information about potential suspects,” Lednev said. Handheld Raman spectrometers are available, and this enables the analysis to be performed directly at the crime scene.
During her sabbatical, Al-Hatlani also developed an improved method for diagnosing Celiac Disease. Lednev's team had been using Raman spectroscopy to diagnose celiac disease based on a blood sample, but their approach required statistical analysis to detect subtle changes in the Raman spectrum. By adjusting the wavelength of the lasers used, Al-Hatlani found conditions that produced spectra that were much easier to analyze. “Now the differences are very big,” Lednev said. You can see it with the naked eye.” Although the findings are important, Lednev noted that they should be validated using a larger sample set and then published. He added, “We are even considering patenting it.”
The central theme of much of Hatlani's work has been to extract as much information as possible from the limited materials available. This applies to another contribution I made to the treatment of drug addiction. Through the same techniques used to analyze fingerprints, Al Hatani and her team were able to tell if a drink contained a drug from just a few parts per millionth of a liter — less than a drop.
The analysis of narcotics has always occupied Hatlani's attention. About that she said: “I think it's a problem now. It has been a problem in the past, and it will always be a problem that will only get worse over time. If we have people who can work on this and keep up with the changes using technology, maybe we can contain the situation.”
Obtaining as much information as possible from each piece of evidence is vital in forensics, since the materials available are limited and irreplaceable. Another important advantage of the techniques developed by Al-Hatlani is their speed. She says that forensic experts in Kuwait have to deal with a very large number of cases, so they will benefit from each increase in speed and efficiency. In the long term, she hopes, through a collaborative center between Kuwait University and the Ministry of Interior, it will be possible to bring together researchers and forensic experts to advance the analyzes and discover new applications.
Intisar Al-Hatlani: Analytical chemistry makes every drop count