About our research
A central area of research is the identification and age estimation of human remains. These studies use methods including carbon-14 analysis, stable isotope analysis, DNA methylation and metabolomics to estimate year of birth, year of death, age at death and geographical exposure. The research also includes studies of how different components of the skeleton are renewed over time and how this knowledge can be used to identify unknown deceased individuals.
Another area of research is post-mortem diagnostics, including post-mortem biochemistry and toxicology, traumatic brain injury, methods for determining the age of injuries, and the diagnosis of asphyxia and hypothermia. The team is also developing methods for faster and more objective post-mortem diagnostics.
The research also covers gunshot and blast injuries, focusing on injury patterns, injury severity, risk of mortality and the time course of severe and fatal injuries. One aim is to develop objective models for assessing injury severity and to increase knowledge of the relationship between the course of injury and different types of projectiles. The findings may also contribute to the development and planning of trauma and pre-hospital care.
Another area is fatal opioid poisoning, where epidemiological and experimental methods are used to study, among other things, opioid-induced pulmonary oedema and biomarkers in bronchial fluid and cerebrospinal fluid. These biomarkers may provide insights into the development of opioid-induced pulmonary oedema and help improve diagnostics. The research also includes studies of biomarkers related to suicidal behaviour.
The team conducts its research in collaboration with, among others, the Swedish National Board of Forensic Medicine, the Swedish Defence Research Agency (FOI), and research groups at Karolinska Institutet and several other universities. The research is relevant not only to forensic medicine, but also to fields such as traumatology, pre-hospital care, clinical pathology and addiction medicine.