Jonathan Parrott

Dr. Jonathan Parrott completed his BSc (with honors) in Forensic Biology in 2008 and PhD at the University of Portsmouth in 2013 with a focus on molecular techniques in forensic entomology. During this time, he applied next generation sequencing approaches to ancient insect remains collected from mummified individuals to determine circumstances surrounding death and burial events. While conducting research in population genetics of forensically important blowflies from across Texas, he conducted forensic entomology training at the Forensic Anthropology Research Facility at Texas State University. He is expertly trained to provide biological evidence interpretation and DNA mixture analysis in a court of law. He has previously held teaching positions at both University of Strathclyde, Glasgow and Staffordshire University. 

Currently he is an Assistant Professor of Forensic Science at Arizona State University. He has published work in forensic entomology since 2013 and research has appeared in Genes, Journal of Medical Entomology and BMC Genomics. He also has published book chapters with CRC Press. He has presented his research at both national and international forensic and entomological conferences.

The Laboratory of Interdisciplinary Forensic Entomology conducts research to elucidate the genomic, phenotypic, and developmental variations that impact the utilization of insects in forensic investigations. Dr. Parrott and his students investigate the correlation between genetics and phenotypes in forensically significant blow fly species, as well as the identification of potential sources of error in insect development. The primary objective of Dr. Parrott’s research is to identify previously unrecognized sources of error in insect evidence, thereby enhancing the reliability of information obtained through analysis. Currently, research conducted within the laboratory supports the validation of genomic techniques for estimating insect evidence age and the development of standard operating procedures for insect DNA identification.