Microbial Signatures in Forensics: Bridging Science and Justice

Forensic microbiology is an emerging field that utilizes microbial communities from various environments like soil, water, air, and human remains to shed light on criminal investigations. These communities serve as unique biological signatures, providing essential links to crime scenes, aiding in the identification of locales, and helping establish timelines. This Research Topic explores the latest advancements in forensic microbiology, highlighting its transformative potential in forensic science. We intend to showcase the innovations and challenges in microbial evidence preservation, geographic profiling using microbiomes, dynamics of the postmortem microbiome, and the employment of microbial tools for identifying forensic environmental contaminants.

This Research Topic aims to advance the field of forensic microbiology, demonstrating its potential to revolutionize forensic practices. Through the presentation of new research, we will promote innovations in microbial evidence conservation, analysis of post-mortem microbiomes, and microbial forensic techniques. Additionally, the collection seeks to tackle the technical and legal hurdles in standardizing forensic microbial methods and their incorporation into broader forensic and legal systems. The overarching goal is to shape the future of forensic microbiology by deepening scientific understanding and improving practices in forensic investigations.

To gather insights in microbial applications in criminal justice, we welcome Original Research, Review, Mini Review, Systematic, Review, Methods, Opinion and Perspective articles addressing, but not limited to, the following themes:

• Advances in microbial evidence preservation;
• Microbiome analysis for post-mortem time-of-death estimation;
• Thanatomicrobiome and epinecrotic community signatures;
• Geographic profiling using microbiome analysis;
• Development of microbial tools for environmental forensic investigations;
• Applications of microbiology in forensic contexts.

Article types and fees

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• FAIR² DATA Direct Submission
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• Perspective
• ... View all formats

Articles that are accepted for publication by our external editors following rigorous peer review incur a publishing fee charged to Authors, institutions, or funders.

Article types

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• FAIR² DATA Direct Submission
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• Perspective
• Review
• Systematic Review
• Technology and Code

Keywords: Forensic Microbiology, Crime Scene Microbiology, Postmortem interval, Cause of Death, Personal identification, Methods and Protocols, Multidisciplinary Investigations

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.