Dr. Monte Miller

There are many, many, toxicology labs. Most of them operate to find illeagal substances in employee or potential employee blood or urine. They have the ability to check your food. Of course, keep in mind that there will be no proof that you did not put it there. Did you fill out a police report? If not you should do so and ask them in writing to check out the food stuff. If not then take it yourself and presnet the evidence to them if something is found. mmiller@forensicdnaexperts.com www.forensicdnaexperts.com Another great tip is to set up a nanny cam, then you will have evidence of who did this and the police will be likely to check the substance for you. This will likely be a much smaller investment for you. mmiller@forensicdnaexperts.com www.forensicdnaexperts.com

I was a previous crime scene investigator and biology/DNA expert. 1. There are chemicals other than the one you mentioned that will detect blood. No household chemicals can be used. Even the ones that we do use only presume that there is blood, further testing must be done. It would be difficult or impossible for a lay person to test for. A chemist could come up with something, or perhaps somebody could have read something, but a lay person with no specific knowledge could not. 2. Yes it would bubble, but just about anything in hydrogen peroxide will cause it to bubble. 3. Yes they give off heat during decomposition, not sure about the temperature. They would melt a little snow, not much. The cool outside temp would whisk away the heat almost immediately. The body would freeze and more likely be preserved rather than melt slow, the decomposition would be slow so the temp would really not rise. 4. Chemistry is used daily at crime scenes, so yes it is used. They are all neat tricks. Chemistry and physics are used in all of the analysis of samples, from trace evidence to DNA to drugs. Most of these use sophisticated machines to detect exact amount. Shelock Holmes uses neat tricks, but in reality we don't use them in a crime lab. mmiller@forensicdnaexperts.com

Every cell in your body had DNA. With the exception of male and female reproduction cells they all have the same DNA content. The base root of hair, saliva, blood, semen, skin, sweat, mucus and earwax all have cells in them, which of course means they have DNA. DNA can bbe extracted from the cell, scientist know how to get it out. Then they copy it and analyze it with special chemicals and machines and they get a profile. If they have a sample directly from someone they can compare it to the "known". The statistical probabilities of a match are astronomical, so if it maches it is most likely that person, or his identical twin. mmiller@forensicdnaexperts.com

It would be a good idea, but you must get people involved and it must be interesting or they will not come. Also, with most learning people must need it. Look at all the classes where people are just trying to get it over with, not really attempting to better themselves specifically, just running toward the degree without thinking in the middle how important it all is. mmiller@forensicdnaexperts.com

More simply put: Electrophoresis is the separation of charged particles by using an electric feild. There are many types and uses. mmiller@forensicdnaexperts.com

Being a previous researcher, forensic scientist, and lab director I can tell you that I have worked as, worked with, and hired many nubes. The most important thing is to understand chemistry terms, grams, mL, and their symbols fo microliters etc so that you can make solutions. Math is extremely important and knowing how to calculate hom many grams or mililiters you will need is vital. If you can do that, and follow the recipe, the rest is easily taught. mmiller@forensicdnaexperts.com

PCR reactions are notoriously different for each different setup. Different primers, template, mg concentration, temperatures, cycles etc. If all of the parameters are different, and even if most of them are the same, the efficiency of the polymerase and the binding, and the A-T, C_G content will drastically effect the qPCR times. Bottom line yes. mmiller@forensicdnaexperts.com

I have actually worked with Hypoxic cells and in fact worked with HIF-1, hypoxia inducible factor 1. I couldn't agree more that you most likely need to change your housekeeping protein. Look up HIF-1 alpha on pubmed and you are sure to find an article or 2 that could give you a good housekeeping protein or a protein that does not change concentration under your conditions. mmiller@forensicdnaexperts.com