We're back and we're looking to bust some myths in forensic toxicology. No conventional idea is safe!


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Find out more about TIAFT at www.tiaft.org

The Toxpod is a production of The International Association of Forensic Toxicologists. The opinions expressed by the hosts are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of TIAFT.

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Season 2 drops on August 7. 

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In the final episode of season 1, we look at five recent publications in the field of toxicology.

1. Voelker, SE, et al. Semi-quantitative determination of designer steroids by high performance liquid chromatography with ultraviolet detection in the absence of reference material. (2018) Drug Test. Anal. 1-7
2. Moretti, M. A liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry method for the determination of cocaine and metabolites in blood and in dried blood spots collected from postmortem samples and evaluation of the stability over a 3-month period. (2018) Drug Test. Anal. 10: 1430-1437
3. Oenning, AL. et al. An effective and high-throughput analytical methodology for pesticide screening in human urine by disposable pipette extraction and gas chromatography - mass spectrometry. (2018) J Chrom B. 1092:459-465
4. Bertol, E. et al. Proactive drugs in DFSA cases: Toxicological findings in an eight-years study. (2018) For. Sci. Int. 291: 207-215
5. Brockbals, L. et al. Time-dependent postmortem redistribution of opioids in blood and alternative matrices. (2018) J. Anal. Toxicol. 42: 365-374

Contact us at [email protected]

Find out more about TIAFT at www.tiaft.org

The Toxpod is a production of The International Association of Forensic Toxicologists. The opinions expressed by the hosts are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of TIAFT.

You can send us a text message using this link!

What is the place of investigative work in forensic toxicology? Should the forensic toxicologist take the same approach in every case? Or should they use their judgement to decide on the best approach for each unique case? Either way, there are a lot of complex issues that arise. Luckily, Tim has all the answers! (or at least some of the questions...)


Contact us at [email protected]

Find out more about TIAFT at www.tiaft.org

The Toxpod is a production of The International Association of Forensic Toxicologists. The opinions expressed by the hosts are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of TIAFT.

You can send us a text message using this link!

We discuss the advantages and the limitations of comprehensive drug detection methods, and the quest for a truly universal method.


Contact us at [email protected]

Find out more about TIAFT at www.tiaft.org

The Toxpod is a production of The International Association of Forensic Toxicologists. The opinions expressed by the hosts are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of TIAFT.

You can send us a text message using this link!

In this episode, Peter chats with Dr David McCutcheon of Royal Perth Hospital about the Western Australian Illicit Substance Evaluation (WISE) project.


McCutcheon, D. et al. An early warning system for emerging drugs of concern in the emergency department: Protocol for the Western Australian Illicit Substance Evaluation (WISE) study. Emergency Medicine Australasia (2018) https://doi.org/10.1111/1742-6723.13185


Contact us at [email protected]

Find out more about TIAFT at www.tiaft.org

The Toxpod is a production of The International Association of Forensic Toxicologists. The opinions expressed by the hosts are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of TIAFT.

You can send us a text message using this link!

In this episode, Tim sits down for a chat with renowned toxicologist Professor Heesun Chung CBE.


Contact us at [email protected]

Find out more about TIAFT at www.tiaft.org

The Toxpod is a production of The International Association of Forensic Toxicologists. The opinions expressed by the hosts are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of TIAFT.

You can send us a text message using this link!

In this episode, we look at 5 recent publications in the field of toxicology.

1. Mogler, L. et al. Phase I metabolism of the recently emerged synthetic cannabinoid CUMYL-PEGACLONE and detection in human urine samples. (2018) Drug Test Anal. 10 (5):886-891
2. Grapp, M. et al. Systematic forensic toxicological analysis by liquid-chromatography-quadrupole-time-of-flight mass spectrometry in serum and comparison to gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. (2018) For Sci Int. 287:63-73
3. Roxburgh, A. et al. Accurate Identification of opioid overdose deaths using coronial data. (2018) For Sci Int. 287:40-46
4. Elliott, S. Hernandez-Lopez, E. A series of deaths involving carfentanil in the UK and associated post-mortem blood concentrations. (2018) J Anal Toxicol. 42(4):e41-e45
5. Gundersen, P., et al. Quantification of 21 antihypertensive drugs in serum using UHPLC-MS/MS. (2018) J Chromatogr B. 1089: 84-93

EMCDDA: demystifying the chemistry of synthetic cannabinoids

Contact us at [email protected]

Find out more about TIAFT at www.tiaft.org

The Toxpod is a production of The International Association of Forensic Toxicologists. The opinions expressed by the hosts are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of TIAFT.

You can send us a text message using this link!

In this episode, we talk about the analysis of drugs in hair.

The use of hair as a preferred sample for drug testing has grown in popularity over the last couple of decades. But so too has our understanding of its limitations. What can hair analysis tell us about a person's drug history?

Special thanks to Michaela Kenneally and Marc Grabowski for appearing in this episode.


Peter's recommended hair collection device


Contact us at [email protected]

Find out more about TIAFT at www.tiaft.org

The Toxpod is a production of The International Association of Forensic Toxicologists. The opinions expressed by the hosts are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of TIAFT.

You can send us a text message using this link!

In the very first episode of The Toxpod, we talk about drug degradation.

Where do the drugs go? What do they do when they get there? And how do we find them again? All good questions...

Contact us at [email protected]

Find out more about TIAFT at www.tiaft.org

The Toxpod is a production of The International Association of Forensic Toxicologists. The opinions expressed by the hosts are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of TIAFT.

You can send us a text message using this link!