Anatomical localiztion of head shots based on the analysis of brain region specific RNA expression in traces of backspatter

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Cornelius Courts
• Subject Area: Public Health, Healthcare Research, Social and Occupational Medicine ; Pathology
• Term: from 2018 to 2022
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 395584551

Thousands of criminal offenses involving uses of firearms are recorded every year and in many of these cases shots from close distances are delivered. A prerequisite for solving such crimes and thus of great importance for forensic and judicial investigations is a comprehensive and unbiased reconstruction of the course of events. This requires the examination of an oftentimes complex scenario which can be subdivided into several particular analyses that may comprise both the victim and the person who fired the gun as well as the gun itself. First systematic and interdisciplinary results on the integration of the aspects ranging from firing the gun up to the formation and consolidation of trace material have been obtained in previous research.Employing a better and more realistic ballistic model for the simulation of head shots and based on the molecular genetic detection of shots to the head, both established in prior work, we herein plan to devise a method to discern the exact hit location in cases of head shots to enable the post-mortal differentiation of suicidal and homicidal shots to the head just from the RNA expression based analysis of backspatter from inside the gun, which if of high relevance to forensic science and legal medicine. This method will then be evaluated by applying it to the analysis of trace material generated in experimental shootings utilizing the aforementioned new ballistic head models as well as real cases of headshots encountered in autopsy in our institute.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants