In this CSI episode, the technology will be used to read a fingerprint's chemical signature and unearth fingerprints buried beneath others or reveal what a person recently handled, as well as create an image of the fingerprint for identity searches.

Press Release

September 30, 2009

Prosolia forensic technology will be featured on the Oct. 8 episode of the hit CBS television series "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," bringing basic research from the laboratory into the living room of millions of viewers.

One might say the subject was "ripped from the headlines" of Science magazine. The episode, titled "Working," airs at 9/8 p.m. Central Time and will feature a fingerprint analysis tool developed by a Purdue Professor and commercialized by Indianapolis Life Science Company, Prosolia.

Desorption Electrospray Ionization (DESI) is the featured technology. In this CSI episode, DESI will be used to read a fingerprint's chemical signature and unearth fingerprints buried beneath others or reveal what a person recently handled, as well as create an image of the fingerprint for identity searches.

Naren Shankar, Executive Producer and Co-Showrunner for "CSI” said, "When I learned about the DESI technique, I knew it would be a natural for CSI. I was able to build a mystery around fingerprint evidence on a metal fragment that was apparent debris from an explosion associated with a murder; initially, certain facts about the victim lead the CSI’s to theorize that the explosion was the result of methamphetamine production, and they use the DESI system to determine if there is any meth residue in the fingerprint. Surprisingly, the DESI system reveals not meth, but RDX in the fingerprint, which ultimately helps the CSIs uncover the murderer."

“We are again flattered that script writers are intrigued by Prosolia's disruptive DESI technology that has taken the impossible of yesterday and made it reality today. The more important commercial applications are broader with respect to trace chemicals on surfaces. These include applications to counterfeit drugs, contamination of foods, drugs of abuse, explosive residues and imaging tissue slices for drugs and cancer,” said Prosolia CEO, Pete Kissinger.

DESI was featured in a November 2008 episode of “CSI: Miami.”

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Prosolia, Inc. was established in 2003 to commercialize technology arising from the laboratory of Professor R. Graham Cooks, Aston Laboratories of Mass Spectrometry at Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana. Professor Cooks and his research team have been innovators in the field of Mass Spectrometry for many years. Prosolia’s first product line, Omni Spray® Ion Source utilizes the revolutionary ambient ionization technology known as Desorption Electrospray Ionization (DESI). DESI is a simple, sensitive, gentle, and versatile ionization method that allows for the direct and rapid sampling of surfaces without any sample preparation.