Not only is a cell phone screen riddled with fingerprints unhygienic, but according to a new study conducted by the University of California, it also leaves behind significant forensic data. Scientists are using the marks left on phones to determine gender, products used and even medications taken by the owner of the device.

Researchers at the University of California say that a huge amount of data that can be collected from a single fingerprint just by the chemical traces on the phone. The marks can last for months at a time and are passed through a chemical database in order to narrow down the substances in the sample.

Although the results of this new method are not admissible in court yet and cannot be used to identify an exact person police and law enforcement officials hope to use the procedure to narrow down suspects at crime scenes.

Last year the lead researcher of the study, Dr. Dorrestein, conducted an experiment where 39 participants and their cell-phones were tested to match people with their devices. The experiment yielded a 90 percent match between participants and phones. Dorrestein hopes this will pave the way for further research in this particular strand of biochemistry and forensics, especially in the court systems.