Patent ID: 8829431

Claim:
A fingerprint lift method for detecting trace amounts of one or more analytes from a solid substrate comprising the steps of: providing a cast, a mould or any other solid impression of a human finger, wherein the cast or the mould comprises one or more ridges duplicating the ridges found on the human finger; saturating the cast, the mould or the solid impression with an oil, a grease or a lipid by a spraying, a dipping or a coating process; lifting the analytes from the solid substrate by pressing or contacting the cast, the mould or the solid impression with the substrate; transferring the lifted analytes from the solid substrate to a microscopic slide or any other suitable solid support; and detecting the one or more analytes by generating a mass spectrum in a mass spectrometer, wherein the detection is done by identifying a m/z ratio of the analytes in the mass spectrum.