Sierra Pacheco’s introduction into forensic sciences has been anything but bare-bones.The 17-year-old Bermuda High School pupil will put together her own genetic study on the basis of sleep patterns. She also hopes to meet with a senior magistrate before the school’s end to get a better understanding of courtroom forensics.Sierra explained: “Visiting a coroner’s office was something that I was pushing for at the beginning of this year but then school took over and I haven’t been able to get into serious contact with him.“But I’m definitely going to try again and make sure I can get something.”Sierra, from Smith’s, told The Royal Gazette that she had been invested in the field for about two years.She said that its depiction in police procedural shows first sparked her interest, but later learnt that its fascination was much deeper than she thought.Sierra explained: “I realised I can go to the crime scene and say ‘OK, let’s test for this’ or ‘this was used for that’. It’s bringing the whole picture together even if you don’t have the whole picture in front of you.”She added: “I realised that I would have to look at a bunch of maimed bodies, which some people might not necessarily like. “I thought ‘everybody’s telling me to be a doctor, but if they’re dead I can’t make them any worse’.”Sierra said that her interests in the field inspired her to put together a genetic study on insomnia for her end-of-year science project.She added that she had received advice on the topic from Carika Weldon, a Bermudian geneticist who will help her through the project.Sierra explained: “She brought up the fact that she wanted to focus on the PER-3 gene, which tells you whether you are a morning person or a night person.“I thought ‘well, if there’s a gene that tells you whether you’re a morning person or a night person, what if that relates to insomnia?’.”Sierra said that genetics played a large part in forensics because it helped to identify a person and understand their behaviour.She said: “Insomniacs either stay up really late and you could consider them to be a night person or they stay up until early hours of the morning and you could consider them a morning person.“So because there’s that weird overlap, I wonder if there’s a genetic difference in people who have insomnia as opposed to a person who doesn’t.”Sierra said that she hopes to study forensic science when she goes to university next year. Her goal will be to get a doctorate and become a forensic analyst.