Forensic Research Unit Established at our Faculty
A team of researchers from the University of Gdańsk, led by Prof. Eng. Aneta Lewkowicz has for several years been conducting pioneering research at the intersection of physics, chemistry, biology and legal sciences, developing innovative, non-invasive methods for the analysis of evidence material. It is the dynamic development of this research that has led to the establishment of the Forensic Research Unit at the Faculty of Law and Administration of the University of Gdańsk – an organisational unit that formally integrates the interdisciplinary potential of researchers working in the field of modern forensic science.
In addition to Prof. Aneta Lewkowicz, the team includes the Director of the Museum of Forensic Science at the University of Gdańsk, Dr Adrian Wrocławski (Assistant Professor and court expert in the examination of firearms and ballistics), as well as two doctoral candidates: Ms Emilia Gruszczyńska, a biology graduate of the Jagiellonian University, and Ms Martyna Czarnomska, a graduate in medical biology from the University of Gdańsk. Both researchers are also graduates of criminology at the University of Gdańsk, thus combining expertise in the natural sciences and legal studies.
Scope of research
At the centre of the team’s interests are new spectroscopic methods (procedures) enabling non-invasive examination of biological traces, which may significantly improve the processes of identification and reconstruction of events. One of the outcomes of this research is yet another patent application submitted to the Polish Patent Office. The invention, entitled “Non-invasive method for estimating the time of death, age and sex, a final solution based on free forms of tryptophan and free forms of NADH, and a device for implementing this method”, was developed in cooperation with the Medical University of Gdańsk (researchers: Head of the Chair and Department of Forensic Medicine, Prof. Dr hab. Michał Kaliszan, and Head of the Department of Public Health and Social Medicine, Dr hab. Łukasz Balwicki, Professor at the Medical University of Gdańsk) and the Gdańsk University of Technology (researcher: Dr Mattia Pierpaoli, Professor at the Gdańsk University of Technology, Faculty of Electronics, Telecommunications and Informatics), with the support of the Technology Transfer Centre of the University of Gdańsk.
The results of the research confirming the effectiveness of the developed method have been presented in the scientific publication “Biochemical clocks in fingerprints energy transfer between free tryptophan and NADH for potential estimation of postmortem interval, age, and sex”. The article was published in the highly ranked international journal Spectrochimica Acta Part A: Molecular and Biomolecular Spectroscopy. This publication represents an important step towards the practical application of the team’s achievements in modern forensic science and forensic medicine.
The research output of the team has already been recognised within the academic community. In the Professor Tadeusz Hanauszek “Work of the Year in Forensic Science” competition, organised by the Polish Forensic Science Society, Dr hab. inż. Aneta Lewkowicz, Professor at the University of Gdańsk, received the main prize in the “scientific article” category, while Dr Adrian Wrocławski, Ms Emilia Gruszczyńska and Ms Martyna Czarnomska were distinguished for their work in the field of modern forensic research methods.
A space for the development of interdisciplinary scientific cooperation
The newly established Forensic Research Unit at the Faculty of Law and Administration of the University of Gdańsk, equipped with a teaching and research laboratory, now provides valuable facilities for the further development of interdisciplinary projects in the field of forensic analysis. It is a space in which researchers, doctoral candidates and students jointly experiment, refine analytical methods and translate theory into forensic practice.
By combining expertise in physics, chemistry, biology, medicine, ballistics and law, the Gdańsk team is developing research that is unique on a national scale and has the potential to exert a real impact on the future of forensic science and forensic medicine.
