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Elisa Validation Method For The Detection Of Ketamine In Hair, Daria A. Centonza May 2022

Elisa Validation Method For The Detection Of Ketamine In Hair, Daria A. Centonza

Student Theses

An ELISA method was developed and validated to detect ketamine in human hair samples. Ketamine is an anesthetic drug that causes memory loss, dissociative sensations, and hallucinations. Due to these adverse effects, ketamine is a common drug used in drug facilitated sexual assaults (DFSAs). It is very important to be able to detect the substances used in DFSAs over a longer period of time due to the delayed reporting of these crimes. Victims, often out of fear and from the sedative/memory loss effects of the drugs, tend to report these crimes when it is too late to use urine and …


Identification Of The New Synthetic Opioid Bucinnazine And Its Metabolites Using Liquid Chromatography Tandem Mass Spectrometry (Lc-Ms/Ms), Karissa N. Resnik Jan 2022

Identification Of The New Synthetic Opioid Bucinnazine And Its Metabolites Using Liquid Chromatography Tandem Mass Spectrometry (Lc-Ms/Ms), Karissa N. Resnik

Master of Science in Forensic Science Directed Research Projects

In the past 20 years, the rate of opioid use increased drastically in the United States. The country has experienced an enormous number of deaths caused by opioid overdose, opioid use disorder (OUD), as well as other harms as a consequence of the high numbers of opioid prescriptions. Fentanyl, a well-known synthetic opioid, has been a contributor to the opioid crisis since 2013 due to its popularity in clinical and illicit use. It has a high potency, which makes it an effective analgesic but a dangerous illicit substance. A new synthetic opioid, bucinnazine, has recently become a new black-market opioid …


Cocaine, Cocaethylene And Ethanol In Postmortem Blood Submitted To The New York City Office Of Chief Medical Examiner, Jada T. Alexis Aug 2021

Cocaine, Cocaethylene And Ethanol In Postmortem Blood Submitted To The New York City Office Of Chief Medical Examiner, Jada T. Alexis

Student Theses

Cocaine overdose deaths are on the rise in the United States. This increase may be due to the co-consumption of cocaine with other drugs. When cocaine is ingested in conjunction with alcohol, a specific metabolite called cocaethylene forms. Information regarding cocaethylene, specifically its interpretive value in post-mortem cases, has not been widely studied. Data from the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in New York City revealed that there were 195 cases in 2017 positive for cocaethylene. These cases were most likely to involve black (42.1%) males (79.5%) in Manhattan (28.2%) aged 50 - 59 (34.4%). Most of the cases …


Analysis Of Cannabinoids In Serum By Gc-Ms/Ms, Christie Cannarozzi May 2020

Analysis Of Cannabinoids In Serum By Gc-Ms/Ms, Christie Cannarozzi

Student Theses

Due to recent changes in federal and state legislations, the availability and consumption of cannabis products have increased in the United States. The expanded use of recreational and medicinal cannabis products increases the importance of implementing sensitive and selective instrumental methods in toxicological laboratories, as legal implications may arise in forensic cases, such as driving under the influence of drugs (DUID). The purpose of this study was to perform a cross-validation for the quantitative analysis of cannabinoids (Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol, cannabidiol, cannabinol, 11-hydroxy-Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol, and 11-nor-9-carboxy-Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol) in serum by gas chromatography coupled to triple quadrupole tandem mass spectrometry (GCTQ). This method was fully …


Effects Of Mercury On The Dopamine Transporter Cell Surface Expression In Pc12 Cells, Christina Hui Dec 2019

Effects Of Mercury On The Dopamine Transporter Cell Surface Expression In Pc12 Cells, Christina Hui

Student Theses

Environmental factors, such as heavy metal exposures, have been suggested to have an impact not only on neurodegenerative disease, such as Parkinson’s disease, but also on psychostimulants abuse and their toxicity. In this study, two questions were addressed: 1) effects of mercuric chloride on parkinsonian toxicant 1-methyl-4-phenylpyridinium (MPP+) induced cytotoxicity and 2) effects of mercuric chloride on cell surface dopamine transporter. Pheochromocytorma cells (PC12) were treated with various concentrations of mercuric chloride (0.02~2.0 ppm) for 4 hours with and without 0.1 mM MPP+. Significant potentiation of toxicity was observed when there was co-treatment with 0.5 ppm …


Method Development And Validation For The Determination Of Designer Benzodiazepines In Blood By Lc-Ms/Ms, Victoria Mei Jun 2019

Method Development And Validation For The Determination Of Designer Benzodiazepines In Blood By Lc-Ms/Ms, Victoria Mei

Student Theses

The misuse of designer benzodiazepines, as an alternative to prescription benzodiazepines and for drug-facilitated sexual assaults, has emerged as a growing threat, due in part to the ease of purchasing these drugs on the internet at low prices. Causing concern for safety, is the lack of dosage information resulting in users self-medicating, often leading to unintended overdoses, coma, or death at higher doses. With limited published data regarding quantification of designer benzodiazepines in forensic cases, a method was validated for the determination of thirteen and screening for two designer benzodiazepines in blood, in addition to a limited number of common …


Simultaneous Determination Of Fourteen Antipsychotic Drugs In Whole Blood By Solid Phase Extraction And Liquid Chromatography Tandem Mass Spectrometry, Theresa M. Dawe May 2019

Simultaneous Determination Of Fourteen Antipsychotic Drugs In Whole Blood By Solid Phase Extraction And Liquid Chromatography Tandem Mass Spectrometry, Theresa M. Dawe

Student Theses

Anti-psychotic drugs are commonly prescribed to patients to treat several mental conditions, such as bipolar, schizophrenia, and manic-depressive disorder. The analysis of anti-psychotic drugs in blood is a common practice in clinical and forensic toxicology, to monitor drug treatment (therapeutic drug monitoring) or to explain the cause of the impairment or intoxication in human performance and in postmortem cases. However, most of the current studies have been performed in plasma, and a limited number in blood. We developed and validated a method to confirm and quantify a panel of commonly prescribed anti-psychotic drugs in whole blood using solid phase extraction …


Analysis Of Synthetic Opioids In Postmortem Blood, Vitreous Humor, And Brain Tissue, Rachel K. Chesser Dec 2018

Analysis Of Synthetic Opioids In Postmortem Blood, Vitreous Humor, And Brain Tissue, Rachel K. Chesser

Student Theses

In the United States, the use of new synthetic opioids (e.g. fentanyl and derivatives) has become an increasing health issue with thousands of overdose deaths being observed since 2013. With the high mortality rate associated with these substances, postmortem analyses and interpretation of synthetic opioids has become extremely important. However, due to the novelty of these compounds, the available data is limited and provides challenges to toxicologists. The focus of this project was to examine the postmortem distribution of new synthetic opioids in blood, vitreous humor, and brain tissue. New methods were developed and validated to quantify 13 synthetic opioids …


Zolpidem Facilitated Sexual Assaults: A Hair Method Validation, Danielle N. Chasworth Jun 2018

Zolpidem Facilitated Sexual Assaults: A Hair Method Validation, Danielle N. Chasworth

Student Theses

A liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MSMS) method was developed and validated to detect for the presence of zolpidem in human hair samples. Zolpidem is a sedative hypnotic whose adverse effects make it a common drug found in drug facilitated crimes (DFC). It is important to be able to detect and quantitate the drug after a long period of time due to the victim’s delayed reporting of the crime. Hair’s long window of detection makes it a useful matrix for DFC investigations. The linear range of the assay was targeted at 2 pg/mg to 1,000 pg/mg and experiments designed to …


Δ-9-Thc Effect On The Dopamine Transporter, Brooke E. Nielsen Jun 2018

Δ-9-Thc Effect On The Dopamine Transporter, Brooke E. Nielsen

Student Theses

Understanding the mechanism behind drugs of abuse is one of the key elements to understanding why addiction is so prevalent in society. The goal of this research was to determine the effect that a popular cannabinoid, Δ -9-tetrahydrocannabinol has on the regulation of dopamine neurotransmitter in the synapses. It was hypothesized that the addictive high users experience from using Δ-9-THC had a direct effect on lowering the dopamine transporter protein on cell surface causing a buildup of dopamine in the synapse. The results of the study show that the higher concentration of Δ-9-THC that the cells were exposed to caused …


Forensic Markers Of Lampricide Toxicity In Oncorhynchsus Mykiss, Chris White Jan 2018

Forensic Markers Of Lampricide Toxicity In Oncorhynchsus Mykiss, Chris White

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The lampricide 3-trifluoromethyl-4-nitrophenol (TFM) has been used for decades to control invasive sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus) populations in the Great Lakes, normally with little harm to other fish populations. However, due to the nature of lampricide treatments and the chemical properties of TFM, adverse effects to non-target fishes and non-target mortality occasionally occur. However, investigations of non-target mortality can be complex, particularly if fish deaths are not noticed immediately, due to decomposition of the carcasses. The objectives of this thesis were to expose rainbow trout (Oncorhynchsus mykiss) to TFM in order to: (i) identify forensic markers …


Books Published, Ashraf Mozayani Feb 2014

Books Published, Ashraf Mozayani

Ashraf Mozayani, Ph.D., PharmD

No abstract provided.