A Westmont company specializing in microscopes may have developed a tool that could help solve crime.

The McCrone Group, Inc. announced it teamed with a Hillside DNA forensic laboratory to create a new sperm identification system.

The system, called Sperm Hyliter, helps identify human sperm faster and more precisely, as evidence in sexual assault cases.

“There’s a lot of people waiting for cases to be analyzed,” said Jeff McGuinn, McCrone’s director of instrument sales. “This will help them solve crime.”

McGuinn said the Independent Forensics DNA Testing and Technologies in Hillside recruited McCrone to help develop a tool to reduce the number of backlogged sexual assault cases. There were many untested sexual assault cases because the previous method was not nearly as accurate, he said.

The previous method, which was 30 to 50 years old, did not offer the specificity that is needed in forensics, said Karl Reich, Independent Forensics DNA Testing and Technologies’ chief scientific officer.

With the strong magnification of McCrone’s microscope, McGuinn said he was able to see the heads of the sperm.

“I was amazed at what I saw,” he said. “(The product) speaks for itself.”

The Sperm Hyliter fluorescently labels human sperm, and saves the assault evidence to a computer imaging system for years of preservation.

McGuinn said this is the first human-specific identification tool, and it will change the way sexual assault evidence is handled. He is confident forensic laboratories around the world will want one.

“You have to see it work to believe its efficiency,” he said.