Abstract
Forensic science and medicine currently rely on forensic autopsies and traditional chemical/toxicological analyses to establish the cause of death of unnatural, suspicious, and unexpected deaths. However, identifying a cause of death still comes with substantial challenges because of non-specific findings during autopsies and large interindividual variability in the results of performed chemical/toxicological analyses. Therefore, there is a clear need for innovative methods that allow a more objective determination of the cause of death in forensic medicine. The VITHAMET project strives to investigate the potential of applying metabolomics approaches to post-mortem vitreous humour to gather complementary and more detailed information on the cause of death in a forensic context. Initially, we will optimize and develop state-of-the-art metabolomics and lipidomics workflows tailored for vitreous humour, based on cutting-edge instrumentation. Subsequently, the global endogenous composition of the human post-mortem vitreous humour metabolome will be characterized in its entirety, resulting in a "human vitreous humour metabolome atlas". Finally, we will investigate alterations in the metabolome of post-mortem vitreous humour samples from selected causes of death (CO-intoxication, drowning and alcohol intoxication) to evaluate the diagnostic value of post-mortem vitreous humour metabolomics for more accurate cause of death determination in forensic investigations.
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