Forensic Scientist

Forensic Scientist

LIsa Black

Cape Coral, FL

Female, 49

I spent the five happiest years of my life in a morgue. As a forensic scientist in the Cleveland coroner’s office I analyzed gunshot residue on hands and clothing, hairs, fibers, paint, glass, DNA, blood and many other forms of trace evidence, as well as crime scenes. Now I'm a certified latent print examiner and CSI for a police department in Florida. I also write a series of forensic suspense novels, turning the day job into fiction. My books have been translated into six languages.

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Last Answer on July 21, 2022

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Should I get a bachelor's degree in forensic science or in a natural science?

Asked by Rose over 7 years ago

That depends on what you want to do. Call labs that you're interested in working for or peruse job opportunities postings at the major forensic organizations websites and see what they require.

s it possible to determine trajectory that a gun was fired, if so, how?

Asked by Noah B about 7 years ago

At it’s most basic, a trajectory is just geometry. If you can find two fixed points then you can draw a straight line between and beyond them.

Good afternoon!im just a bit curious.... at what college did you go to?

Asked by Anna about 7 years ago

Cleveland State University. I have a BS in Biology.

You are testing a swab that has DNA on it, but you don't know if it's saliva/ skin cells/urin/blood.How long does it take to determine what it is and find out who it belongs to?Which steps do you have to go through and how much does it cost pr test?

Asked by Ayden almost 7 years ago

Usually we can assume what kind of cells will be on it depending on where it was collected from—if from a pop can, it will probably have saliva and skin cells. From underwear might have semen. If from a dark stain, probably blood. How long it takes depends on the type of analyses done and the type of DNA testing—STR, ySTR, mitochondrial, etc. It will take at least a day or two, and after that it depends on the lab’s backlog. We send our DNA to a state lab and it will take between a month and four months to get the results back. If detectives or prosecutors want it faster and someone’s budget is willing to pay for it, we can send it to a private, accredited lab and pay for a faster analysis. They can do it in as quickly as three days or up to a week or two depending on what you want to pay for. If you want it in a week it will cost a few thousand dollars—something like $600 a sample plus upcharges for expedited service and an overall charge, if I’m remembering correctly. If you want more like three days it will be more like $5000. That’s for the basic three samples—victim, suspect and questioned sample.

1 What is the education requirement for this position? 2 What knowledge do you need to have? 3 What skills do you need to learn and how long did it take you to learn them? 4 What is a normal day like in this job?

Asked by Mattea about 7 years ago

For homework assignments please email me at: lisa-black@live.com.

I am writing a paranormal suspense thriller novel and I need to know if you could figure out a person's identity in 2010 if all you had were the eyeballs and they were preserved since the 1970s.

Asked by Yvonne Schuchart over 6 years ago

My guess would be no. I would think the formaldehyde would destroy the DNA in the cells, though I don’t know for sure, and in any event they weren’t doing DNA in the 70’s so you’d have to find something of the person’s to compare the eyeball DNA. If you have something of the person’s retained from the 70’s, especially hair for example, perhaps there is mitochondrial DNA in some cell in the eyeballs that could still be obtained and compared to the mDNA from the hair.Otherwise I doubt ophthalmologists would take or save retinal scans back in the 70’s. Hope that helps. Best of luck!

If we report a script that was stolen please tell me they'll finger print the bottle or is it not considered that important

Asked by Shannon McTighe over 7 years ago

They might. I couldn't say for sure one way or the other.