CASE OF THE MISSING

PATHOGENSBy: Kelsey Fitzgerald

& Alex Mahoney

The Best Detectives Ever!

CASE FILE

Missing pathogens

Dr. Doodles Donley

DR. DONLEY’S INSURANCE POLICY WITH A FORGED SIGNATURE WITH BLOOD STAINS THAT DO NOT MATCH HER BLOOD TYPE!

Two lip prints found at the crime scene

FINGERPRINTS OF PEOPLE WHO ATTENDED THE PARTY

WHERE DR. DONLEY’S BODY WAS FOUND ALONG WITH THE PERPETRATORS’ FOOTPRINT

DNA SAMPLES FROM OUR 5 SUSPECTS AND THE CRIME SCENE

SUSPECT LIST 1. Dr. Kelvin High- jealous of Dr. Donley’s popularity and

knowledge of string and M theory 2. Dr. Lazarus Dangerkitty- jealous of Dr. Donley’s ability to

acquire grant monies. He has been overheard saying that if he could only dissect Dr. Donley’s brilliant mind, he could acquire the information to rule the world with his plastic cats.

3. Dr. Latricia Doctor- that Dr. Donley refused to acknowledge her as a colleague. Dr. Donley was so egotistical that she often told Dr. Doctor that her Ph.D. wasn’t in a legitimate content area. Dr. Doctor vowed to set Dr. Donley straight about her ignorance!

4. Dr. Sloopy Stretch- jealous of Dr. Donley’s technology in her laboratory. He is angry because he must settle for dry erase markers that have contributed to his “huffing” habits

5. Dr. Thomas Canada- denied the chance to work in Dr. Donley’s lab. Ever since, he has held a grudge, saying that Dr. Donley was holding him back.

AUTOPSY REPORT Dr. Donley was bludgeoned on the back of her head

and a small cut on her hand was apparent. Her glass from the party had traces of cyanide. A faint sent of almonds was apparent. The cyanide can shut down the electron transport chain quickly; hence, one cannot make ATP and carry on normal functions. Dr. Donley realized someone was trying to poison her and she erupted and kicked everyone out of the part at midnight. 

Dr. Donley’s attack and robbery of her laboratory is estimated to be between midnight and 2 am

Blood not belonging to Dr. Donley was found on her right hand and underneath her fingernails using luminol and other forensic techniques.

HAIR ANALYSIS Hair analysis is a forensics technique where tests

and comparisons are done using hair found at the crime scene as well as the hair of the victim and suspects. The hair can be physically compared, where texture, length, and color are all taken into account. Hair can also be used to detect for drugs. As the hair grows out, it carries traces of the drugs that have been used. The longer time since drug use, the farther away the drug trace is from the follicle.

At the crime scene there was a short white hair sample found that matched one of Dr. Lazarus Dangerkitty’s many cats.

LIP PRINTS Lip print analysis is a lot like fingerprint analysis.

Each person has a unique lip print and if left behind at a crime scene it can be used to identify an individual. To match a lip print to someone you need to take a lip print from the suspects who you believe the print belongs to. Then you would compare the shape of the print, the grooves and any other distinctive features to the print that was found at the crime scene. If one of the prints match then you have identified an individual who was at the crime scene.

Two sets of lip prints, one being pink lipstick, were found at the crime scene. Dr. Donley was one and the other tested to me Dr. Latricia Doctor.

BLOOD ANALYSIS Serology is the study of blood serum. Basically the

study of what makes up blood. This is very useful in a crime scene situation because you can find your suspect or narrow them down drastically with a few drops of blood. If you can acquire a blood sample at the crime scene you can run DNA on it, you can check for blood type, any disease carried in the blood or if there is alcohol or a certain drug present. Just acquiring DNA and blood type from the sample can pretty much narrow it down to one or a few suspects. This is why serology is so helpful in forensics.

Two samples of blood were found at the crime scene. One was a match to Dr. Doodles Donley, and the other was a match to Dr. Latricia Doctor.

FINGERPRINT ANALYSIS Fingerprinting is possibly the most basic and

common method used in forensics. It is designed off of the fact that each person's fingerprints are unique. If fingerprints can be found at the crime scene, they could be matched to a suspect. There are 5 basic patterns found in fingerprints: loops, whorls, arches, bifurcations, and ridge endings.

No fingerprints other than Dr. Doodles Donley’s were found at the crime scene

DNA ANALYSIS A DNA fingerprint is unique to a person. All people have a unique

Short tandem repeat which is a repeat of a set of alleles. When you DNA finger print you run the DNA through a special porous gel. The gel is shocked with 800 volts of electricity which gets the DNA to move. Smaller STR goes farther down the gel while longer STR doesn’t make it as far. By lining up a suspects DNA finger print with DNA found at a crime scene you can see if the DNA is a match. This can prove that a suspect was at the crime scene.

With the DNA found at the crime scene we will be able to find the person or people who were there, but to match the DNA we have to increase the odds. The first step of this process is to extract the DNA. Then we placed the DNA into micro tubes with an enzyme to break apart the DNA at certain base pairs. This makes different sized sections of DNA that will make apparent bands in the electrophoresis gel depending on how far they move through the gel. Using these bands we can compare them to the DNA at the crime scene DNA. If the bands line up then you know you have your person or at least you have drastically narrowed the field of suspects.

INTERVIEWS

Gerty Rice only attended the annual Scientist of the Year Awards Dinner at Monarch University on March 11, 2011 for a short while. During her time of attendance she over heard a conversation between Rudy Deca and Danika Market. When asked about this conversation she revealed that Danika Market was accusing Dr. Donley of plagiarizing her work.

Conveniently Dr. Latricia Doctor was unavailable for questioning.

Other interviews can be found at:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXH0iMX0m3o

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2LnhkTDdwLc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SeO5wpBVQLw

STOLEN PATHOGEN INFORMATION Leprosy:

Leprosy is a chronic disease caused by the bacteria Mycobacterium lepromatosis. It is a disease of the peripheral nerves and mucosa of the upper respiratory tract. External signs of leprosy are lesions over the entire body. While no one exactly knows how M. leprae is transmitted but the widely accepted theory is through respiratory droplets. Currently there are some drugs on the market that are used in treatment of leprosy.

HIV:HIV is a virus that is a member of the retrovirus family. This virus is the cause of AIDS or Accquired immunodeficientcy syndrome. It leads to a progressive failure of the immune system that allows minor illnesses or cancer to overrun the body and eventually kill you. Currently there are no cures for HIV just therapies and treatments that work for some but not all.

CONCLUSION Dr. Doodles Donley was throwing a wild party the night

after she had won the “scientist of the year” award. Many people were seen coming and going from the party. Many of her colleagues also had motive for harming Dr. Donley and stealing her work. While Dr. High confessed to signing the Insurance Policy and the pet hair matched that of Dr. Dangerkitty’s cats neither harmed Dr. Donley. The blood analysis came back with both O+ and A+ blood types. Dr. Donley is O+ and A+ could only be Dr. Doctor, Dr. Stretch, or Dr. Hammer. It was the DNA analysis that confirmed our suspicions. The DNA found at the crime scene was a perfect match to suspect 3, Dr. Latricia Doctor, who is known for her pink lip stick. Dr. Latricia Doctor was furious at Dr. Donley for refusing to acknowledge her degree. She has always wanted to harm Dr. Donley and see her fail and saw the perfect opportunity when the party was “rockin”. Everyone was enjoying themselves and no one saw Dr. Doctor slip out of the room behind Dr. Donley when she went to check on her latest experiement.

Dr. Doctor has been charged with burglary, destruction of property, theft, and attempted murder.