Michael Gammel
Founder & Principal, TrueTest Labs
Michael Gammel is the founder of TrueTest Labs, a forensic specimen-collection and testing-coordination practice serving family courts, attorneys, and employers. He brings 15+ years of hands-on forensic collection experience to the family-law community — designing court-defensible, chain-of-custody protocols for drug, alcohol, and parentage testing, with laboratory analysis performed by nationally accredited partner laboratories (CRL, Quest Diagnostics, USDTL, LabCorp, and Endeavor DNA for AABB-accredited parentage testing).
He is a practical resource to GALs, attorneys, and judges on test selection, detection windows, and the evidentiary strengths and limits of forensic results — including PEth, EtG/EtS, hair, oral-fluid, and sweat-patch testing.
DOT-qualified collector and breath alcohol technician under 49 CFR Part 40. Founded TrueTest Labs in 2010; family court services since 2015 — thousands of cases. Consults on the order, the test, and the result.
Areas of Expertise
- Court-ordered alcohol & drug monitoring protocols (family law)
- Chain-of-custody collection: urine, hair, oral fluid, sweat patch, PEth
- Sweat-patch testing — application, removal & limitations
- Detection windows & defensible test-panel selection
- DOT / transportation compliance & consortium management
- DOT-certified Breath Alcohol Technician (BAT) & BAT instructor — evidential breath testing administration
- Parentage (DNA) collection; mobile & remote, video-observed collection
Experience
TrueTest Labs — Founder & Principal (2010–present).
Founded a forensic specimen-collection practice serving businesses and individuals; expanded into family-court services in 2017 and is a trusted resource for Chicago-area guardians ad litem, attorneys, and judges on testing protocol and what results establish.
JonesTrading International — Branch Manager, San Francisco & Chicago (1991–2010).
Managed two branch offices of a major institutional brokerage firm over a two-decade career in institutional finance.
Certifications
- DOT-Qualified Urine Specimen Collector — 49 CFR Part 40
- DOT-Qualified Breath Alcohol Technician (BAT) — 49 CFR Part 40
Speaking & Professional Activities
- Regular speaker — Illinois State Bar Association (ISBA) Annual Conference
- Panelist — AFCC of Illinois (Association of Family and Conciliation Courts)
- Speaker — Lake County GAL / Child Representative training seminar
Education
- B.S., Business Administration — University of California, Riverside, 1991
Need a testing partner who can stand behind the result?
From the order and test-panel selection to chain of custody and what the result means, TrueTest Labs supports attorneys, GALs, and families through the whole process.