Greetings ASCLD Colleagues and Friends,
What a week! This week a cadre of ASCLD folks were evaluating some cities for the future Symposiums. It is hard to believe that 2026 is right around the corner and we really need to get those locations nailed down. We were lucky to visit three beautiful cities- I am always so impressed at the beauty of some of our nations cities and am reminded how each one is so unique. As our Executive Director, John Byrd pointed out, the visits were conducted over a few days and the itinerary was “fast and furious”, but we have some great locations, and we will discuss them at our next BOD meeting on August 19th.
Speaking of ASCLD Symposiums, the website for the 50th Anniversary ASCLD Symposium is LIVE! Check it out here: https://na.eventscloud.com/website/42572/ I think our President-Elect Tim Kupferschmid has done an excellent job of organizing a great event, but he certainly cannot do it alone. We had our first Symposium Planning meeting this past Friday, but we could always use more folks! Tim is looking for a few volunteers and chairs for the flowing teams:
- Abstract Review Committee- if you want to have a voice in what is presented, please consider joining this team!
- Local City Committee- are you a local in Austin? Then we need you to assist us with planning. What better people to guide us then the experts?
- Workshop Marketing Committee- Are feeling like we need more workshops? Do you like to encourage (or nag) your talented colleagues to share their knowledge? Then we have a job for you- we need folks who can seek and encourage talent for our sessions!
Speaking of workshops and talent, we have some important dates, and we need your help. Importantly, our call for abstracts is now open (opens August 8th and closes September 16th) and we need all of you to participate. We have spots for workshops and plenary sessions. We want to leverage the best thinktank group for crime lab leaders and that group is our membership! I know you each have something to share, so please get those abstracts in! Click here to learn more about submitting your abstract(s): https://na.eventscloud.com/website/42572/abstracts/
For having a 50th Anniversary, I would say we have aged well- so pull out your bellbottoms and leisure suits, crank up your transistor radio and join us for the off-site event which will be held at the Oasis Texas Brewing Co. (OTXBC) https://www.otxbc.com/ This place has beautiful views and I know you all will love it.
We all know how fast forensic science is evolving. I encourage you to take the time to attend this webinar that will feature a validation completed at by our friends at the NC State Crime Laboratory for the method of Hematoxylin staining to screen roots in the telogen growth phase for DNA analysis. Make sure you attend this fascinating webinar on August 16th at 1pm est. Click here for more information: https://forensiccoe.org/webinar-2022-hair-root-staining/
We received information from National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA- affiliated with NIH) that they are launching the “Cause of Death Elucidated (CODE) in Drug Overdose” Challenge, which is soliciting ideas for novel postmortem toxicology screening tools that would be used to inform and streamline suspected drug overdose death investigations and to improve drug specification in overdose death counts. If you know of an inventor, make sure to get them this flier.
These days of summer are winding down. This weekend, though, I will be attending a local ballgame (the Madison Mallards) with our crime laboratory folks at our Madison location. My husband, Bart, organized this fun, family event for the laboratory. I am looking forward to seeing my coworkers, enjoying their company and watching some ball! We may grab a beer and brat (as you do in Wisconsin). I hope you all have had a great weekend and are gearing up for a productive week.
Go Team ASCLD!
Sincerely,
Jen
Jennifer D. Naugle
ASCLD President
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ASCLD monthly board meeting
The next Board of Directors meeting date will be on Friday, August 19th at 1pm CST.
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Weekly News and Resources |
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The Forensic Technology Center of Excellence is hosting a webinar
Hair Root Staining – What Can Hematoxylin Do for Your Laboratory?
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The Research Forensic Library is officially launched and provides access to thousands of articles and reports in the scientific literature, a critical step in the forward momentum required of forensic science and its varied applications.
The Library is part of a cooperative agreement with the National Institute of Justice (NIJ). You can find the full release on our website to republish and share:
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with information on Lightning Talks, the FRC Collaboration Hub, the
Laboratories and Educators Alliance Program (LEAP), new LEAP Research
Partners, recent submissions to the Evaluation and Validation Repository,
and FRC Award Winners!
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ASCLD FRC Validation and Evaluation Repository – Confirmation and Quantitation of Antiepileptic and Acidic Drugs by LC/MS/MS
The ASCLD Forensic Research Committee (FRC) is proud to announce a new submission to the Validation and Evaluation Repository. As you may already know, the purpose of this FRC initiative is to create a central repository of forensic validations and evaluations. ASCLD hopes that this repository will foster information sharing and promote collaboration with the forensic science community.
The Montgomery County Coroner’s Office / Miami Valley Regional Crime Laboratory recently submitted a summary validation report highlighting their internal validation for a new protein crash extraction and LC/MS/MS method for confirming and quantitating 14 antiepileptic/acidic drugs in blood, serum, urine and tissue homogenate. The method was validated using 7 blood calibrators and low, medium, and high controls in blood, serum, urine and tissue homogenate. The validation parameters are all included in the validation summary submitted.
Please consider submitting information about your lab’s validations or evaluations to the repository. Information could include basic information such as validation/evaluation title, lab name, and point of contact information (which enables other forensic scientists to contact you with questions) or additional information such as a short validation or evaluation summary or even a full validation or evaluation report. By sharing this information, you are supporting other laboratories that wish to expand their forensic capabilities!
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The Project FORESIGHT benchmark report for FY2021 is now available HERE
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The ASCLD Forensic Research Committee (FRC) is pleased to announce a new submission within the Collaboration Hub. As you may know, the purpose of the Collaboration Hub is to create a directory to connect researchers with ongoing projects to practitioners who are willing to participate in the studies or support the research. It is ASCLD’s hope that this program will further communication and cooperation between forensic researchers and practitioners.
Recently, a new project was added to the Collaboration Hub that aims to explore factors that may play a role in the decision-making of triaging items collected from crime scenes. The Principal Investigator for this study is Dr. Ifat Levy from Yale University with collaborators from the University of College London. The researchers are seeking volunteers to participate in an online study where participants will be asked to evaluate a forensic casework brief and photographs of items collected from a crime scene. Under a hypothetical scenario in which the participant is the expert assigned to this case, the participant will make a series of decisions about the case. The study will take approximately 30-40 minutes to complete.
If you are interested in supporting this project and contributing to forensic science research, please check out the ASCLD FRC Collaboration Hub.
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Videos from the Annual Symposium in Reno are now available in the on the ASCLD website |
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Forensic science service providers are invited to participate in OSAC’s 2022 Registry Implementation Survey.
The Organization of Scientific Area Committees (OSAC) for Forensic Science wants to better understand how the standards on the OSAC Registry are being used, the challenges around standards implementation, and what support is needed to improve it. Your input will help to assess the current state of implementation of 95 standards that have been posted on the OSAC Registry through June 2022. This survey is now open and will close August 12, 2022. Take survey HERE
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We cordially invite forensic DNA experts to attend the 29th International Congress of the International Society for Forensic Genetics in Washington DC, August 29th through September 2nd. The ISFG Congress is the largest professional society dedicated to advancement of
research and information for forensic DNA analysts, researchers, and students. With over 400 scientific posters, breakfast seminars, workshops, and other special events - this meeting will draw upon scientists from all of the world. The biennial ISFG Congress gathers these professionals who present the most current information, research, and updates in the field of forensic genetics.
#isfg2022 #forensics #forensicscience #ISFG
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Please send all CLM submissions to our new electronic form!
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Please continue to tag your photos on social media with the hashtag #ASCLDfun |
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Opt Out.
ASCLD sells your email information to vendors for marketing and promotional material purposes. You may ‘opt-out’ of receiving vendor information not directly related to ASCLD by emailing executivedirector@ascld.org. If you do not opt out then your acceptance of this Agreement will constitute your affirmative consent to receiving marketing and promotional material from ASCLD.
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Crime Lab Minute Sponsors
For More Information, Click the LOGO below:
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There are many standards open for comment on the ASB website. Be sure to check them out and provide your valuable input!
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Safety Topics for your Lab |
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Health and Safety in the Laboratory series by Jane Northup PhD, RI State Crime Laboratory
Click on links below for articles
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ANAB Trainings
With the ability to reach wider audiences, we are expanding offerings of current courses in Spanish.
The following courses will be available live online in Spanish:
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Forensic Technical Assessor
- Forensic ISO/IEC 17025 Internal Auditor
- Risk-based Thinking for Forensic Service Providers
We are also excited to introduce our courses:
Uncertainty, Sampling and Data Analysis: Understanding Statistical Calculations. This course provides an introduction to statistical concepts and techniques used for the collection, organization, analysis, and presentation of various types of data. The course touches on both descriptive statistics and inferential statistics, including how to compute measures of central tendency and dispersion, and how to assess the relationship between two variables. More..
Verification and Validation for Laboratories and Inspection Bodies. This course provides an introduction to the validation and verification of analytical methods and the common elements of a validation or verification plan. In addition, a general approach to performing a validation or verification will be reviewed along with ISO/IEC 17025 requirements for validation and verification of methods. More…
Webinars:
We continue our monthly Webinars and stay tuned for information about upcoming Feature Sessions.
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Donations to ASCLD can now be made online! This is a great way to honor the memory of a forensic colleague, to commemorate a life event for that person who has everything, or to otherwise assist in supporting the tireless efforts of the ASCLD organization in the pursuit of excellence in forensic science management. The donation page can be accessed by clicking HERE or by visiting the ASCLD website and clicking on "Donate to ASCLD" under the "Member Site" tab (this donation page is accessible even to non-members). Please consider donating and do share this information with anyone you think might be interested.
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The American Society of Crime Laboratory Directors
65 Glen Road, Suite 123
Garner, NC 27529
Phone: 919.773.2044
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