EAGER: Collaborative Research: Proteomic Detection of Amelogenin Proteins for Biological Profiles

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In both bioarchaeological and forensic settings, scientists need to be able to establish the biological profiles of individuals based on their skeletal remains. In this EAGER research project, methods for determining whether a skeleton was female or male based on the chemistry of tooth enamel will be developed and compared to other methods of sex estimation. The research will expand the available suite of tools for establishing biological profiles, with the aims of validating and improving protocols and expanding the range of time periods and environmental conditions in which skeletal sex estimation can be accomplished. Findings and protocols will be shared with researchers in anthropology, chemistry, and other disciplines, and the project will support undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral student training and mentoring across the three collaborative research sites. The inability to accurately determine the sex of sub-adult and/or incomplete skeletons is a persistent problem in biological anthropology and forensic anthropology. Both osteological analysis and DNA-based methodology have particular strengths and limitations. This project seeks to develop a robust, reproducible, and sensitive method for bioarchaeological and forensic sex estimation based on the detection of sexually dimorphic amelogenin peptides in human enamel, the hardest and best preserved tissue in the human body. The investigators will optimize peptide extraction from enamel, increase the sensitivity and quantification of sexually dimorphic peptides, establish a uniform protocol that can be applied as broadly as possible to archaeological material, and replicate and build on other work done in the field. The approach developed will be statistically grounded and result in sex estimation with established error and false positive and negative rates.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.