Prof Michael Cole FRSC

Mike has over 30 years experience in teaching and research in forensic science with a strong emphasis on the analysis of controlled substances and forensic chemistry. Mike has undertaken teaching, research, and/or casework in 37 countries across the globe.

[email protected]

Background

Mike graduated from the University of Cambridge in 1986 having read Natural Sciences. He then became the first PhD bursary student supported by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, where he developed his interest in phytochemicals and natural products as potential agrochemicals and pharmaceuticals. Having worked with colleagues at both Birkbeck College and Imperial College, University of London, Mike obtained his PhD in Natural Product Chemistry in 1990.

Following a short spell in industry, Mike joined the Forensic Science Unit at the University of Strathclyde in 1991 as a short course tutor. In this position he developed CPD and research courses in forensic chemistry and delivered them as far afield as North and South America, Asia and many countries in Europe. Following permanent appointment at Strathclyde, and progressing through lecturing and senior lecturing posts, he became the Reader of Forensic Science and Director of the Forensic Science Unit in 2000.

In 2001, Mike joined Anglia Ruskin University as Professor of Forensic Science and Head of the Department of Forensic Science. Mike became Deputy Dean for Research and External Income in the Faculty of Science and Engineering in 2014 and was interim Pro Vice Chancellor (Research) from March, 2019 until September, 2019 supporting the development of REF2021.

Mike was Dean of ARU Doctoral School from March 2020 until May 2022. He returned to the Forensic Science team in June 2022 where he continues to support the forensic science taught programmes, supervise research students and carry out research and knowledge exchange projects. He leads the Forensic & Investigative Sciences Research Group.

Research interests

• Drug chemistry
• Drug profiling and comparison
• Drug toxicity
• Development of analytical techniques for novel psychoactive substances
• Fire and arson investigation

Mike has also contributed to a UK-IERI funded project around the development of mobile ad hoc networks.

Areas of research supervision

Mike has supervised 27 research students to completion at Master’s and Doctoral level. This has included candidates for PhD, PhD by publication and DProf in the UK and also in the USA, Canada, Finland, France, India, Kazakhstan, Poland, and Taiwan. The research areas include:

• the analysis, profiling and comparison of drugs, 
• the analysis and comparison of glass, 
• development of methods for arson investigation and 
• the use of DNA in the identification drugs and of poisonous plants.

Mike’s most recent projects include working with colleagues at ARU and in Nepal on identifying new evidence types in the investigation of DFSA cases. Another ongoing project is with colleagues in the South African Police Service (SAPS), University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, RSA., Botswana International University of Science and Technology (BIUST), Palapye, Botswana and the Botswanan Forensic Science Service on the identification and profiling of “Nyaope” and of “Tik”.

Closer to home Mike is working with colleagues at Eurofins and LGC on the differentiation of petrol samples using high field NMR. He is also working in collaboration with Cambridgeshire Constabulary testing the assumptions behind statistical clustering techniques used to relate batches of drugs to each other.

In addition Mike has acted as an external examiner for research degrees in the UK, India, South Africa and Switzerland.

Mike has won approximately £1.45M in research income funded by UK. European Union and International funding agencies.

Teaching

BSc (Hons) Forensic Science

BSc (Hons) Crime and Investigative Studies

Mike’s teaching areas include forensic and analytical chemistry, drug chemistry, the analysis of explosives, and fire investigation in attion to general biosciences. He has also developed parts of, and contributes to, the postgraduate research student training leading, in particular, on publishing and on generating impact.

Qualifications

BA (Hons) Cantab

PhD (London)

Memberships, editorial boards

Mike was elected to Fellowship of the Royal Society of Chemistry in 2018.  He is a member of peer review college of EPSRC and a member of the editorial board for the journal "Problems in Forensic Science". He is also a referee for the journals "Analytical Methods", "Acta Chromatographica", "Journal of Liquid Chromatography and Related Technologies" and "Neutotoxicity Research".

Mike is also an assessor for the Assessor Netherlands Register of Forensic Experts (Nederlands Register Gerechtelijk Deskundigen, NRGD).

Research grants, consultancy, knowledge exchange

Mike is currently working with Intelligent Fingerprinting Ltd on the detection of compounds of forensic interest in fingerprint sweat.

In addition Mike has worked with Eurofins and is currently working with London Fire Brigade on the individualisation of ignitable liquids.

Selected recent publications

Yankova, Y., Cirstea, S., Cole, M. and Warren, J., 2024. Identification and Discrimination of Petrol Sources by Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy and Machine Learning in Fire Debris Analysis. Applied Sciences, 14(12), p.5177.

Yankova, Y., Cole, M.D., Cirstea, S. and Warren, J., 2024. Individualization of petrol sources by high field Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy. Forensic Science International, p.112103. 

Mthembi, P.M., Mwenesongole, E.M. and Cole, M.D., 2024. Chemical profiling of the street drug Nyaope in South Africa using GC–MS. Emerging Trends in Drugs, Addictions, and Health, 4, p.100142. 

Morrissey, J., Stodter, A., Sherratt, F. and Cole, M.D., 2023. Partnership between academics and practitioners–addressing the challenges in forensic science. Science & Justice, 63(1), pp.74-82. 

Mthembi, P. M., Mwenesongole, E. M., Cole, M. D., 2021. A validated method for the analysis and profiling of 'nyaope' using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. South African Journal of Science, 117(11-12), pp. 1-9.

Jurowski, K., Krośniak, M., Fołta, M., Cole, M., Piekoszewski, W., 2019. Toxicological analysis of Pb and Cd by ET AAS in local anaesthetics for teething (teething gels) based on herbs available in Polish pharmacies. Journal of Trace Elements in Medicine and Biology, 52, pp. 18-21. doi: 10.1016/j.jtemb.2018.11.005

Jurowski, K., Krośniak, M., Fołta, M., Tatar, B., Cole, M., Piekoszewski, W., 2019. The Toxicological Analysis of Ni and Cr in Prescription Food for Special Medical Purposes and Modified Milk Products for Babies in Infancy Available in Pharmacies in Poland. Biological Trace Element Research, pp. 1-7. doi: 10.1007/s12011-019-01667-w

Mthembi, P. M., Mwenesongole, E. M., Cole, M. D., 2019. Chemical profiling of the street cocktail drug ‘nyaope’ in South Africa using GC–MS II: Stability studies of the cannabinoid, opiate and antiretroviral components during sample storage. Forensic Science International, 300, pp. 187-192.

Mthembi, P. M., Mwenesongole, E. M., Cole, M. D., 2018. Chemical profiling of the street cocktail drug ‘nyaope’in South Africa using GC–MS I: Stability studies of components of ‘nyaope’ in organic solvents. Forensic Science International, 292, pp. 115-124.

Grela, A., Gautam, L., Cole, M. D., 2018. A multifactorial critical appraisal of substances found in drug facilitated sexual assault cases. Forensic Science International. 292, pp. 50-60.

Kuleya, C., Cole, M. D., 2018. Forensic Analysis of Piperazines. In Kowalska, T., Sajewicz, M., Sherma, J. (Eds.), 2018. Chromatographic Techniques in the Forensic Analysis of Designer Drugs (Florida: CRC Press), pp. 329-340.

Aldmour, R., Yousef, S., Yaghi, M., Tapaswi, S., Pattanaik, K. K., Cole, M., 2016. New cloud offloading algorithm for better energy consumption and process time. International Journal of System Assurance Engineering and Management, pp. 1-4.

Fakrudeen, M., Yousef, S., Tapaswi, S., Patnaik, K. K., Cole, M., 2016. Voice performance analysis using voice codec by packet fragmentation and contention free periods in wireless networks. International Journal of System Assurance Engineering and Management, pp. 1-7.

Kushwah, R., Tapaswi, S., Kumar, A., Pattanaik, K. K., Yousef, S., Cole, M., 2016. Gateway load balancing using multiple QoS parameters in a hybrid MANET. Wireless Networks, pp. 1-12.

Suraj, R., Tapaswi , S., Yousef, S., Pattanaik, K. K., Cole, M., 2015. Mobility prediction in mobile ad hoc networks using a lightweight genetic algorithm. Wireless Networks, 22, pp. 1797-1806. doi: 10.1007/s11276-015-1059-0

Turner, A., Gautam, L., Moore, C., Cole. M., 2015. Investigating the terminology used to describe Ecstasy. Drugs and Alcohol Today, 14, pp. 235-244. doi: 10.1108/DAT-07-2014-0029

Grela, A., Rachel, W., Cole, M., Zyss, T., Zieba, A., Piekoszewski, W., 2015. Application of fatty acid and lipid measurements in neuropsychiatry. Clin. Chem. Lab. Med. doi: 10.1515/cclm-2015-0394

Challis, D., Scruton, A., Cole, M., Callan, M., 2015. A time-motion analysis of lightweight women’s judo in the 2010 world championships. International Journal of Sports Science and Coaching, 10, pp. 479-486. doi: 10.1260/1747-9541.10.2-3.479

Gautam, L., Sharratt, S. D., Cole, M. D., 2014. Drug facilitated sexual assault: detection and stability of benzodiazepines in spiked drinks using gas chromatography – mass spectrometry. PLoS ONE, 9(2), e89031. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0089031

Sanaei, A., Toulson, E. R., Cole, M. D., 2014. Tuning and optimisation of an electronic network frequency extraction algorithm. Journal of the Audio Engineering Society, 62, pp. 25-36.

Kuleya, C., Hall, S., Gautam, L., Cole, M. D., 2014. An optimised gas chromatographic-mass spectrometric method for the chemical characterisation of benzylpiperazine and 1-arylpiperazine based drugs. Analytical Methods, 6, pp. 156-163. doi: 10.1039/C3AY41020J

Abbott, S. C., Cole, M. D., 2013. Vibration Arthrometry : A Critical Review. Critical Reviews in Biomedical Engineering, 41, pp. 237-256. doi: 10.1615/CritRevBiomedEng.2014010061

Mwenesongole, E., Hall, S., Gautam, L., Waterhouse, J. S., Cole, M., 2013. Simultaneous detection of controlled substances in waste water. Analytical Methods, 5, pp. 3248-3254. doi: 10.1039/C3AY40655E

Gautam, L., Shanmuganathan, A., Cole, M. D., 2013. The forensic analysis of cathinones. Forensic Science Review, 25, pp. 47-64.

Holman, S. W., Emmett, T. F., Cole, M. D., 2012. A quantitative assessment of the chemical variation in food grade polyethylene cling film, a common wrapping material for illicit drugs, using attenuated total reflection-Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. Analytical Methods, 4, pp. 1667-1673. doi: 10.1039/C2AY05889H

Book chapters

M. Cole and M. Baron 2024 “Drugs of abuse” in 'Crime Scene to Court: The Essentials of Forensic Science, 5th Edition'. Royal Society of Chemistry. pp448 – 493. ISBN 9781839168000.

Recent presentations and conferences

Keynote addresses at international conferences by invitation.

Cole, M.D. (2023) “Reflections on the future of drug chemistry”. Opening plenary lecture at the "Conference of Young Forensic Chemists" (Konferencja Młodych Chemików Sądowych) held at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Poland, on May 25-26, 2023.

Cole, M.D. (2023) “Drug trends in Africa” Current Trends in Seized Drug Analysis. Plenary Lecture. Online conference. Jan 23rd – 27th 2023.

Cole, M.D. (2022) “A critical evaluation of the chemometrics used in heroin profiling”. Plenary presentation. African Association of Physiological Sciences 2nd online webinar. 9 November, 2022.

Cole, M. D., Mthembi, P. M., Mwenesongole, E., 2022. Profiling of the South African Street drug “nyaope” using GC – MS. 9th European Academy of Forensic Science, Stockholm, Sweden. Oral presentation.

Ratshonka, S., Cole, M. D, Gautam, L., Ferguson, L., 2022. A critical evaluation of the statistical methods used in heroin profiling. 9th European Academy of Forensic Science, Stockholm, Sweden. Poster presentation.

Mthembi, P. M., Mwenesongole, E. M., Cole, M. D., 2019. Chemical Profiling of Nyaope. European Network of Forensic Science Institutes Working Group Drugs, Cyprus.

Cole, M. D., Mwenesongole, E., Mthembi, M., 2017. Factors affecting methodologies for the analysis and profiling of drugs of abuse – “Nyaope”. South African Police Service Conference. Pretoria, South Africa.

Media experience

Mike has contributed widely to the media including television, radio and the printed press. Recent published articles include:

Articles written for The Conversation

Cole, M. 2024 Spice: the 'zombie drug' being found in some vape liquids. 15 February, 2024.

Cole, M. 2024 Kush: what is this dangerous new west African drug that supposedly contains human bones? 15 January, 2024.

Cole, M. 2020 Do drugs go off? What happens to medicines after their use-by dates. 7 February, 2020.

Grela, A., Gautam, L. & Cole, M. Xanax: how does it work and what are the side effects? 11 April 2018.

Cole, M. Monkey Dust, Krokodil, Nyaope: why new drug concoctions keep appearing. 24 August 2018.

Media interviews with Deutsche Welle (TV interview), Business Insider (Internet media interview) and Craving Clarity (podcast).

Additionally, in early 2024 I have acted as a consultant for the BBC on a documentary on the manufacture of synthetic drugs in the Far East.