Gemma Radford, a postgraduate biology student, will soon complete her masters degree with a thesis about back-spatter of blood from gunshot wounds.
Despite blood-spatter analysis often being key evidence in a crime scene, a model that re-creates back-spatter is yet to be created.
Back-spatter was blood and tissue that came from the entry wound of a bullet, moving back towards the shooter.
It was widely accepted the pattern of back-spatter could distinguish whether a killing was homicide or suicide, when blood was often deposited on the shooter's hand.
If her model was perfected, it could be used to assist in the reconstruction of fatal shootings.
"Say you had a fatal shooting and you wanted to figure out what range the gun was fired from, you could test out different things on the model," Miss Radford said.
Her supervisor, Prof Jules Kieser, was approached by the Institute of Environmental Science and Research (ESR) to create an appropriate back-spatter model and Miss Radford took up the challenge.
"No-one has really done it before" and it was creating excitement in the forensic world, she said.
A preliminary model was constructed using silicone to mimic skin and resin to mimic bone.
Sponge was placed between the two layers and injected with pig's blood.
A ballistics specialist then shot at the models, at the Otago Pistol Club, with different firearms and ammunition.
A 9mm Glock, a common handgun in the United States, was chosen because it had been "widely used" in previous research and gave the required wound.
Then the heads of pigs, killed for human consumption, were shot.
Pigs had the closest bone and skin type to humans.
These tests were filmed on a high-speed camera, which captured 20,000 frames per second.
Miss Radford will complete her 40,000-word thesis in November and was unsure what would happen then.
There would be enough work to complete a PhD but, after six years at university, she was unsure if she wanted to be the one to do it.
The draw of pulling off a credible model, however, was strong.
"That's what's cool about it, because it's never been done."
