“Insects are fascinating,” says Professor Martha Wolf, an entomologist at the University of Antioquia who has long been devoted to study the role of insects in death investigations, and current director of the UA Entomology Group (GEUA), established in 1997. The use of insects in forensic investigations dates back to the 13th century in China as evidenced by Chinese physician and forensic expert Song Ci (also known as Sung T’zu) in his book “The washing away of wrongs”.

Lucas Monje is 35, holds a PhD in Biological Sciences and is a CONICET assistant researcher at the Laboratory of Disease Ecology of the Institute of Veterinary Sciences (ICIVET-LITORAL, CONICET-UNL). Although he works in the field of molecular biology, “the subject that I became directly involved with is an investigation that tries to elucidate the eco- epidemiology of Rickettsia parkeri, a bacterium that causes emerging infectious diseases”, he explains.