Current methods for visualizing fingerprints on paper are labor-intensive and time-consuming, using toxic dyes and chemicals to stain the fingerprints or make them fluorescent. The ground-breaking Thermal Fingerprint Developer uses heat to develop the fingerprint in a matter of seconds.

The fingerprint detection technology was discovered by University of Technology Sydney (UTS) Honors students Adam Brown and Daniel Sommerville and further developed by Dr Brian Reedy and his team at UTS’s Centre for Forensic Science as a simpler, safer, and more economical method for developing fingerprint images. This rapid and simple technique can develop ‘invisible’ fingerprints on porous surfaces such as paper, cloth, and wood more efficiently.

A prototype has been developed with UK-based Foster & Freeman Ltd, which supplies scientific instruments to police and forensic laboratories internationally. UTS research commercialization partner, UniQuest, facilitated a patent application and the license agreement.

“This technology has the potential to be used right there at the crime scene, saving critical time as well as resources,” said UniQuest’s UTS-based Manager of Innovation and Commercial Development, Dr Michael Manion.

“It could also be developed into high-throughput models for the rapid analysis of large sample numbers, such as volumes of documents, to help investigators working on ‘white-collar’ crimes like fraud and embezzlement.”

Other advantages of this innovation are that sensitive evidence need not be destroyed in the thermal stage of the process and it supports existing techniques for fingerprint development, such as the use of ninhydrin subsequent to the thermal development process.

UniQuest has fielded enquiries about the product from a range of interested parties, including law enforcement departments in Australia and the U.S., traditional forensic laboratories, defense services, and homeland security agencies.

“Undetonated improvised explosive devices (IEDs) often have a wooden top, and because the Thermal Fingerprint Developer can lift prints from these surfaces, potential applications in the field of terrorism investigation look promising. Training manuals left behind usually have fingerprints on them too, so both the high-throughput and the portable models of this technology could prove invaluable,” said Dr Manion.

For more information, visit www.uniquest.com.au