A Lecturer in Forensic Science at Northumbria University, Newcastle, has been awarded more than £1 million to develop a world-leading new technique
that will unveil details to help solve investigations relating to unidentified
bodies.
Dr Noemi Procopio of Northumbria’s department of Applied
Sciences is one of the second wave of researchers to be awarded the UK Research
and Innovation (UKRI) Future Leaders Fellowship.
One of UKRI’s flagship schemes, the Future Leaders
Fellowships is a £900 million government investment fund that is helping to
establish the careers of world-leading researchers and innovators across UK
academia and business. The initiative provides Fellows with the support, flexibility
and time they require to work on ambitious programmes of research.
For Dr Procopio, the award of £1.2 million, of which £930k
is funded by UKRI, will enable her to benefit from outstanding support to
develop her career and to tackle challenging research in the field of forensic
science.
At present it is estimated that 1,500 unidentified bodies
are present in the UK and 40,000 in the USA, and it is thought that these
numbers could represent just the tip of the iceberg.
Dr Procopio’s research utilises some of the most
cutting-edge technologies available to address two vital questions that a
forensic scientist is asked to solve a crime or to assist in the identification
of unknown victims: the time elapsed from his or her death, which is known as the
post-mortem interval of the victim and the age at death of the victim.
Although several different approaches can currently be used
to answer these questions, they have been criticised for their lack of
objectivity, quantifiability and accuracy. This is largely due to the fact that
the approaches are mostly based on the morphological examination of the
skeletal remains and on the expertise of the forensic anthropologist who
performs the analysis.
Additionally, most of the techniques presently used to
estimate the post-mortem interval rely on evaluations that have to be performed
on soft tissues, therefore shortly after death. Techniques aimed at determining
the age at death often also rely on the completeness of the skeleton, which becomes
challenging in situations such as cold cases victims, natural disasters, war
victims, terroristic attacks, human trafficking victims, and also for
archaeological excavations.
To overcome these challenges, Dr Procopio will use
pioneering technology known as ‘omics’ which enables the extraction of biological
information including DNA, proteins and metabolites from very small amounts of
materials, such as a tiny fragment of bone. She will then perform analyses on these biomolecules to
deduce quantifiable features – also known as biomarkers - associated with both the
post-mortem interval and the victims’ age at death.
The work will be conducted in collaboration with two
Forensic Anthropology Centres in Texas and Tennessee, which will provide the
samples of human skeletal remains required to carry out the research. All the recovered information will then be combined
together with advanced bioinformatics tools, known as machine learning
algorithms, to develop a mathematical model that will estimate the
time elapsed since death and also the age of the victim at the time of death.
The ultimate goal is to use the newly found biomarkers to
develop a new piece of commercial kit that could be used by forensic
examiners, police officers or researchers to make these estimations in an easy,
quick, un-biased and reliable way. The kit will also allow "non-omics" experts to obtain
fundamental investigative clues that will help to improve solving crimes
involving the presence of skeletonised or highly fragmented remains.
Dr Procopio hopes that this research will have a strong
national and international impact, and that its results may benefit the overall
community, reduce the costs of the criminal investigations and ultimately
promote faith in the justice system.
Dr Procopio said: “I am thrilled to be finally able to
share this fantastic news with everyone. It is a great honour and pleasure to
have become a Future Leader Fellow, it is like a dream come true! UKRI Future
Leader Fellows are an eclectic group of high-calibre and talented researchers
and innovators from all over the UK, and I am extremely proud to be part of it
– now I cannot wait to start to work on my project and to start to build my own
team at Northumbria University. This is an amazing opportunity not only for my
professional growth, but also for the world of forensic science and for the
whole society.”
Science Minister Chris
Skidmore said:
“Delivering on our
research and innovation ambitions means putting people first, whether they are
just starting out in their career or are leading major projects in academia or
industry.
“These inspirational
Future Leaders Fellows will generate the ideas of the future, helping to shape
science and research for the 21st century. But to realise the full potential of
these discoveries, their ideas need to be taken out of the lab and turned into
real products and services, where they can actually change people’s lives for
the better.”
UK Research and
Innovation Chief Executive, Professor Sir Mark Walport, said:
“The Future Leaders
Fellowships will enable the most promising researchers and innovators to become
leaders in their fields, working on subjects as diverse as climate change,
dementia and quantum computing.
“UKRI is committed to
creating modern research and innovation careers and our Future Leaders
Fellowships aim to support and retain the most talented people, including those
with flexible career paths.”
Are you fascinated by forensic science and its impact on crime-solving? Find out about our Forensic Science degree courses here.
