From Heart-Pounding Nerves to Dye-namic Delivery: A Forensic Specialist's ISHI 36 Story
When Aimee Hack first walked into the ISHI 36 lecture theatre in Palm Beach, Florida and saw the sea of seats awaiting her presentation, her heart sank. A quick photo was dispatched to friends back home — complete with colourful commentary. But what followed proved that sometimes the best conference experiences come from pushing past the butterflies.
Aimee is a Technical Specialist at Eurofins Forensic Services DNA Centre, where her days are spent evaluating and validating new technologies for forensic DNA analysis, troubleshooting existing instrumentation, and keeping laboratory operations running at their best. At ISHI 36, one of the most influential global conferences in forensic genetics, she took to the stage to present her team's evaluation of Promega's 8-dye STR kits and the Spectrum CE system. It was a collaboration born from a shared commitment to scientific rigour, and the results were well worth sharing.
Rather than delivering a dry run-through of graphs and data, Aimee took a gamble, injecting her natural enthusiasm into the 20-minute presentation. Her dramatic confession about "going mad with power" when discovering she could input undiluted DNA without oversaturating the detection cell earned audible gasps and laughter from the audience. "I got a few oohs and ahhs, which was very satisfying," she recalls. "I didn't want to squander the opportunity."
The work underpinning that presentation reflects exactly the kind of partnership Promega aims to build with forensic laboratories. Rather than simply handing over a product and stepping back, the collaboration with Eurofins was grounded in evidence-based dialogue, matching claims with real-world performance, working through validation requirements together, and exploring how new solutions could integrate into existing workflows without disruption.
Beyond the presentations, Aimee discovered what makes ISHI special: the people and the access. The conference's ‘passport’ challenge, collecting stamps from exhibitor stands, gave her the perfect excuse to strike up conversations. "I'd just go up and say, 'Right, I'm collecting my turtle. How are you?' And suddenly you're chatting to everyone." Those informal exchanges, with fellow scientists, industry experts, and technology providers alike, turned out to be just as valuable as the formal sessions, reinforcing ISHI's well-earned reputation as a collaborative, ideas-driven event.
For Aimee, the experience reinforced the importance of continuous learning within forensic science and brought practical insights straight back into the laboratory. It also highlighted the real value of supporting technical specialists to attend international conferences, ensuring that laboratories like Eurofins stay at the forefront of innovation, and that partnerships like the one with Promega continue to be shaped by the people doing the science every day.
Her verdict? "I really enjoyed it. Everyone was happy to be there, very personable and willing to communicate."
Sometimes the best science happens when you're brave enough to be yourself, and when you have the right partners behind you.
Aimee is a Technical Specialist at Eurofins Forensic Services DNA Centre, where her days are spent evaluating and validating new technologies for forensic DNA analysis, troubleshooting existing instrumentation, and keeping laboratory operations running at their best. At ISHI 36, one of the most influential global conferences in forensic genetics, she took to the stage to present her team's evaluation of Promega's 8-dye STR kits and the Spectrum CE system. It was a collaboration born from a shared commitment to scientific rigour, and the results were well worth sharing.
Rather than delivering a dry run-through of graphs and data, Aimee took a gamble, injecting her natural enthusiasm into the 20-minute presentation. Her dramatic confession about "going mad with power" when discovering she could input undiluted DNA without oversaturating the detection cell earned audible gasps and laughter from the audience. "I got a few oohs and ahhs, which was very satisfying," she recalls. "I didn't want to squander the opportunity."
The work underpinning that presentation reflects exactly the kind of partnership Promega aims to build with forensic laboratories. Rather than simply handing over a product and stepping back, the collaboration with Eurofins was grounded in evidence-based dialogue, matching claims with real-world performance, working through validation requirements together, and exploring how new solutions could integrate into existing workflows without disruption.
Beyond the presentations, Aimee discovered what makes ISHI special: the people and the access. The conference's ‘passport’ challenge, collecting stamps from exhibitor stands, gave her the perfect excuse to strike up conversations. "I'd just go up and say, 'Right, I'm collecting my turtle. How are you?' And suddenly you're chatting to everyone." Those informal exchanges, with fellow scientists, industry experts, and technology providers alike, turned out to be just as valuable as the formal sessions, reinforcing ISHI's well-earned reputation as a collaborative, ideas-driven event.
For Aimee, the experience reinforced the importance of continuous learning within forensic science and brought practical insights straight back into the laboratory. It also highlighted the real value of supporting technical specialists to attend international conferences, ensuring that laboratories like Eurofins stay at the forefront of innovation, and that partnerships like the one with Promega continue to be shaped by the people doing the science every day.
Her verdict? "I really enjoyed it. Everyone was happy to be there, very personable and willing to communicate."
Sometimes the best science happens when you're brave enough to be yourself, and when you have the right partners behind you.