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Lifestyle chemistries from phones for individual profiling
Amina Bouslimani1, Alexey V Melnik2, Zhenjiang Xu3
1Collaborative Mass Spectrometry Innovation Center, Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92037; pdorrestein@ucsd.edu abouslimani@ucsd.edu.
Summary
Researchers can now analyze chemicals on personal items like phones to create a lifestyle profile. This new trace evidence helps investigators identify owners by revealing habits, product use, and even locations.
Area of Science:
- Forensic Science
- Analytical Chemistry
- Biochemistry
Background:
- Personal belongings at crime scenes can offer valuable investigative clues.
- Understanding an individual's habits and lifestyle is crucial for investigations, complementing DNA evidence.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop a method for inferring lifestyle details from the chemical residues on personal objects, specifically mobile phones.
- To demonstrate that chemical analysis of personal items can create a personalized lifestyle profile.
Main Methods:
- Utilizing mass spectrometry to detect and identify chemicals present on personal objects.
- Employing informatics approaches to interpret the chemical data and construct a lifestyle sketch.
Main Results:
- Chemicals recovered from phones successfully reflect a personalized lifestyle profile of the owner.
- The molecular repertoire identified indicates the use of hygiene/beauty products, dietary habits, medical status, and potential locations visited.
Conclusions:
- The chemical analysis of personal belongings provides a novel form of trace evidence derived from skin-associated lifestyle chemicals.
- This approach can assist criminal investigators in narrowing down the owner of objects found at investigative sites, aiding in the identification of suspects or missing persons.
