Mindy Gruzin, a recent Penn State York graduate, preserves spider embryos for gene expression as part of an undergraduate research project she did at the campus prior to the University's move to remote learning. Gruzin now is headed to medical school in the fall, with a full-ride scholarship to pursue internal medicine and primary care.
CSI notwithstanding, forensics experts cannot always retrieve fingerprints from objects, but a conformal coating process developed by Penn State professors can reveal hard-to-develop fingerprints on nonporous surfaces without altering the chemistry of the print. "As prints dry or age, the common techniques used to develop latent fingerprints, such as dusting or cyanoacrylate -- SuperGlue -- fuming often fail," said Robert Shaler, professor of biochemistry and molecular biology and director of Penn State's forensic sciences program.
