University of Amsterdam and Dutch Police open joint forensic drug analysis R&D lab

Last Friday, 8 May, the new joint Drug Analysis R&D lab of the University of Amsterdam (UvA) and the Netherlands Police was officially opened. Ruth Kloek, heading the LFOX department for forensics expertise at the Netherlands Police, cut the ribbon in the presence of Prof. Bas de Bruin, scientific director of the Van ’t Hoff Institute for Molecular Sciences (HIMS) and many colleagues.

The small lab, located at the HIMS premises at Amsterdam Science Park, is dedicated to developing new methods for the chemical analysis of drugs of abuse. It is equipped with two modern GC-MS systems that were recently made available by the Amsterdam Police. The lab also facilitates students working on projects for rapid analysis and detailed impurity profiling of drugs of abuse, involving portable spectroscopy, liquid chromatography, and NMR analysis. Novel analysis methods are also developed for explosives, ignitable liquids, chemical warfare agents, and gunshot residues. A part of the opening ceremony, several students presented their projects to the visitors.

Research programme in forensic chemistry

The Analytical Chemistry research group at HIMS maintains a special exemption to work with small quantities of illicit substances for teaching and research purposes. This forensic chemistry research programme is headed by Prof. Arian van Asten (Forensic Analytical Chemistry) at HIMS, together with Dr Ruben Kranenburg, lead chemist at the Dutch National Police and HIMS research associate. They both supervise PhD students and MSc students from the Chemistry and Forensic Science programme, who conduct research projects in forensic chemistry.

This article was first published on 12 May by University of Amsterdam.