August 21, 2014
Shane Williams and Shelby Hubbard, alumni of the UNL Forensic Science Program have had their research using pollen analysis for locating tobacco origin published in the Journal of Forensic Sciences.
Their work, Establishing Tobacco Origin from Pollen Identification: An Approach to Resolving the Debate adds to the knowledge base surrounding best practices for pollen analysis regarding tobacco and concludes that pollen signatures can distinguish broad geographical areas.
The authors, who also include Dr. Sergio Miranda Chavez and UNL’s Dr. Karl Reinhard, analyzed a tobacco sample from Brazil to develop comparative data for South America, and also looked at the role of honey additives. This work is key in the context of forensic investigation methods and is an important step in furthering practices of palynology in forensic science.