The Institute of Environmental Science and Research (ESR) has changed its name to the New Zealand Institute for Public Health and Forensic Science (PHF Science) as of 1 July 2025. The website address is now www.phfscience.nz. Visitors are automatically redirected to the new address. Please check and update any links and bookmarks.

Products

PHF Science experts apply innovative science and technical expertise to create products that make a difference for Aotearoa New Zealand.

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About

PHF Science experts have applied their innovative science and technical expertise to the following products. Find out more below.

Lumi™ Drug Scan

Lumi™ Drug Scan

Lumi™ enables frontline officers to screen suspected drug samples on the street, in real-time.

Lumi™ Drug Scan combines a portable handheld device, the Lumi™ Mobile App, and a secure cloud service to deliver real-time analysis of drug samples. This means real-time results in the field enabled by a virtual drug reference library built by and used in a real-world forensic laboratory.

Lumi™ can scan through clear packaging to tell if something contains methamphetamine, cocaine, or MDMA, meaning officers don’t need to handle unknown substances. Lumi™ has been co-designed and validated in partnership with frontline police, resulting in a robust, reliable, and responsive system.

Lumi™ has been developed in partnership between New Zealand Police and PHF Science's forensic laboratory providing science reliability and police usability. Thanks to the unique co-design process, Lumi™ has been tested and validated at every step from ideation to development, to pilot, to evaluation, and to roll-out.

STRmix™

STRmix™

STRmix™ is expert forensic software, developed by PHF Science and Forensic Science South Australia (FSSA), that can resolve previously unresolvable mixed DNA profiles.

STRmix™ uses a fully continuous approach for DNA profile interpretation, resolving complex DNA mixtures worldwide. STRmix™ software combines biological modelling and mathematical processes to achieve results not possible with traditional DNA interpretation methods.