Grants for new research strengthen efforts against poisoning and drugging

Associate Professor Steffen Sinning has been granted DKK 1.5 million for a research project aimed at developing a method to detect highly potent opioids such as fentanyl and nitazenes. The project is based on the body’s own opioid receptors and seeks to establish a model system to determine whether opioids are the cause of poisonings or suspicious deaths.

“The new highly potent opioids pose a serious threat because even minuscule amounts can lead to fatal poisonings. We hope our new method will help identify these substances more precisely, even in situations where traditional methods fall short,” says Steffen Sinning.

Senior Researcher Jørgen Bo Hasselstrøm has also been awarded DKK 1.5 million from the Victim Fund. His research project aims to develop an advanced data processing method to identify unknown medical and intoxicating substances in blood and urine samples. The project builds on a promising pilot method and aims to automate substance identification.

“Unfortunately, we are seeing more and more cases with suspicions of drugging where current analysis methods cannot detect substances that explain the symptoms. My goal is to provide victims with better clarity and increase the possibility of justice in their cases,” says Jørgen Bo Hasselstrøm.

The project is being conducted in collaboration with researchers from both the Department of Forensic Chemistry and the Bioinformatics Research Center at Aarhus University.

Both researchers hope their findings will make significant contributions to preventing and addressing the growing societal issues posed by highly potent opioids and intoxicating substances.

Contact

Associate Professor Steffen Sinning
Aarhus University, Department of Forensic Medicine
Phone: +45 87168314
Email: stsi@forens.au.dk

Senior Researcher Jørgen Bo Hasselstrøm
Aarhus University, Department of Forensic Medicine
Phone: +45 87166834
Email: jbha@forens.au.dk