At a ceremony at the University of Copenhagen, Waters officially welcomed the University’s Forensic Chemistry Laboratory within the Department of Forensic Medicine into the Waters Centers of Innovation Program. The laboratory, headed by Professor Kristian Linnet, provides essential drug analysis services to law enforcement and medical examiners who are investigating suicides, suspicious deaths caused by drug overdoses or poisonings and drug-related crimes. Test results obtained on samples collected at a crime scene or from autopsies—blood, urine, tissue, saliva and hair—are crucial in solving crimes or the causes of accidental or deliberate death.
“We expect a fruitful collaboration on developing new forensic methods based on mass spectrometry which is an exciting, rapidly developing field”, said Niels Morling, Head of the Department of Forensic Medicine, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Denmark.
Dr Petur Weihe Dalsgaard is a research scientist in the Forensic Chemistry Laboratory. He and his fellow scientists are experts in the development of new analytical methods based on mass spectrometry. In his remarks complimenting the work of Dr Dalsgaard and his colleagues, Eric Fotheringham, Director of Waters Centers of Innovation Program said, “We couldn’t be more pleased to have the University of Copenhagen and Dr Dalsgaard participate in our program. It’s a fascinating science and one that skilled scientists like Petur and his team bring to crime scene investigations every day.”
“The illegal drug trade imposes tremendous costs on society. Lives are ruined and the financial cost to society is enormous. We see the effects every day”, Dr Dalsgaard said. “Our mission is to quickly provide law enforcement with the best available expertise, along with accurate and unassailable test results that answer some very tough questions.”
In a ceremony held on campus, Waters officially saluted the work of Dr Dalsgaard and the Section of Forensic Chemistry with a forensic science symposium organised in part and sponsored by the Waters Centers of Innovation Program.
