For the last day, in Washington DC we headed out to the Mount Vernon Campus of George Washington University to meet with two professors of chemistry and forensics biology from their Department of Forensic Sciences to see how working in a laboratory testing "designer drugs" and "crime scene" DNA is tested.
Meeting with the chemistry, professor Nelu Marginean, to learn about the equipment they used. Thin Layer and Gas Chromatography as well as Mass Spectrometry are used in testing street drugs having
unknown molecular make up.
Left to right: Yannik, Melissa, Katya, Professor Marginean, Mason, Max, Jane, Sally, and Alyx.
Meeting with forensics biology professor Daniele Podini to
learn about the newest technology being used to determine DNA from human
samples. He explained how all of the graduate students go on to work in the
field of forensic science and often testify in court cases as forensics’
experts to either exonerate or help to convict people in the court system.
Left to right front: Yannik, Katya, Jared, Professor Podini, Jade
Left to right back: Sally, Jane, Mason, Melissa, Max and Alyx.
Sight Seeing:
Jade, Katya and Yannik.