This report summarizes the outcomes of a project to develop methods for the biochemical characterization of the sweat content of fingerprints, based the donor’s physical attributes and lifestyle habits. The researchers began by identifying amino acids and metabolites in human sweat which might serve as valid indicators of personal physical attributes or lifestyle characteristics, such as diet or drug consumption. Next, they designed bioaffinity-based assays on the targets they identified and evaluated the relevant cascade systems using authentic sweat and fingerprint samples. Characteristics investigated included: biological sex of the donor; differentiation of individual donors by the metabolic signatures in their sweat and the stability of these signatures over time; and estimation of the time since deposition of fingerprints. A third major goal to develop field-deployable (on-site) applications using those bioaffinity-based systems was initiated with the design of a smartphone-based system to infer alcohol or THC use from sweat or fingerprint samples.
Novel concept for fingerprint analysis
NCJ Number
310902
Date Published
December 2025
Length
40 pages
Abstract