Can bones tell us about drug use? How Boston U.. tests solid samples | Behind the Science S3 Ep4

Forensic toxicology chemists face particularly difficult challenges in getting good data from post-mortem specimen when soft tissue and bone have gone through decomposition. Jen visits with Sabra Botch-Jones, an assistant professor at Boston University School of Medicine's Biomedical Forensic Sciences department at their outdoor decompositional facility to learn how they test skeletal remains for drugs. With advancements in technology such as multi-dimensional chromatography, Sabra says, forensic chemists are now able to analyze and find drugs and their metabolites in bone. She walks us through her lab's step-by-step protocol for how to prepare a solid sample - in this example, bone - for testing by liquid chromatography.

Get the details about this method in our application note, Detection of Cocaine and Its Major Metabolites in Rodent Bone Following Outdoor Decomposition after Chronic Cocaine Administration Using the ACQUITY UPLC System with 2D Technology: http://bit.ly/2sSAMIw

Learn more about 2D UPLC technology:
http://www.waters.com/waters/ACQUITY-UPLC-2D-LC-multidimensional-LC/nav.htm?cid=10203030&locale=101

Boston University School of Medicine's Forensics program:
https://www.bu.edu/academics/gms/programs/biomedical-forensic-sciences/