What Is Serology? How Do Forensic Scientists Use Serology?

Serology
Serology? What is serology? How do Forensic Scientists use serology? Serology is the study of blood, blood serum, saliva, semen, and other bodily fluids. However the reason that this became a discipline of Forensic Science is because forensic scientists can use the DNA found from the different assortments of bodily fluids in order to narrow down and eliminate possible suspects.
Forensic Serology is the study of serology in the relation to crimes and other legal matters, using a biological approach to the law and crime investigation.
Forensic serologists mostly work on homicides, rapes, and assaults, as well as paternity disputes. Forensic scientists in the field of serology usually have a bachelor’s degree and work for law
In a presumptive test you can conduct an Acid Phosphatase test, which can help in detecting the presence of semen. However this test called “presumptive” for a reason; there are many factors that can alter or contaminate the evidence and therefore falsify the test’s accuracy on the suspected sample. The Acid Phosphatase test can also yield false results because of the test’s high sensitivity. Consequently it can easily be altered by the activity of the enzyme, Acid Phosphatase, the age of the stain, the type of environmental conditions that the sample was and is exposed to, and the presence of vaginal secretions and other bodily fluids. Vaginal secretions can alter the test’s accuracy for semen because it contains, however small, certain amounts of the enzyme, Acid Phosphatase. There are other types of bodily fluids that can alter the test’s accuracy too, but the contamination done by most of these other bodily fluids is miniscule and usually does not alter or contaminate the sample enough to yield false results. There is another type of test called the light test, which uses specialized lights in order to reveal the presence of semen. This test is considered to be “quick” and “easy” because it is useful with preserving both time and money when determining semen’s presence in a suspected area. However, there are many other types of molecules that fluoresce in ways similar to semen; therefore it can be difficult sometimes to determine that a sample really is semen or some other type of molecule. There is another type of test that is used when trying to confirm that a suspected sample really is semen called the Prostate Specific Antigen test. This test can help to aid in the determining of the presence of the prostate specific antigen, (PSA) which is found in the male prostate