Preservation and Recovery of the Proteome: A Clue to Investigate Ancient and Archived Samples

Proteins make up a large part of every organism, comprising a significant portion of teeth, hair, bone, tissue, and horn. The composition of proteins is highly variable, and these differences cause the physical differences between, species, populations, and individuals and give rise to many of the pathologies that can affect organisms. Studying proteins and their differences can elucidate species identity, relationships between individuals, and characteristics of disease. Expanding this examination to include aged and ancient specimens can extend these investigations through time, giving insights into dynamic change and evolution. Understanding the effects of degradation on the quality and quantity of ancient samples is key to obtaining sufficient proteins. This study will compare and optimize various methods for the extraction and preparation of proteins for proteomic analysis of ancient bone, tissue, hair and blood residue through a range of ages. In addition to these ancient samples, archived biomedical specimens will also be analyzed. These biomedical specimens will also vary in age and manner of preservation. The proteomic analysis of the biomedical specimens could assist in understanding disease and its inheritance to be continued…

Faculty Supervisor:

Michael Rennie

Student:

Partner:

Griffith University

Discipline:

Life Sciences

Sector:

Education

University:

Lakehead University

Program: