Matthew CollinsMay 6, 2025
🧵 Thread: 1️⃣ Fascinating paper by Stewart et al. shows robust method for sex determination using peptides in tooth enamel. Great potential for #archaeology with fragmentary remains where DNA is degraded. #palaeoproteomics #ZooMS #teammasspec figshare.com/s/a861c0d74d...
Bluesky

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Show threadMatthew Collins
2️⃣ The work identifies amelogenin peptides in dental enamel that reliably determine biological sex. Enamel proteins persist far longer than DNA, opening new possibilities for sexing fragmentary remains from deep time periods. #archaeology #bioarchaeology
Bluesky

Bluesky Social
May 6, 2025 at 3:12amWeb
Show threadMatthew CollinsMay 6, 2025
3️⃣ Method involves minimally destructive sampling - a huge advantage over traditional approaches. The technique extracted and identified sex-linked peptides from third molars with surprising consistency. #palaeoproteomics #archaeologicalscience A 'why did I not think of that moment?' 🤔
Bluesky

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Show threadMatthew CollinsMay 6, 2025
4️⃣ Success with forensic samples echoes NIR food science approaches pioneered by CRAW (Gembloux, Belgium) www.cra.wallonie.be/fr/vincent-b... for detecting bone fragments in animal feed using Raman. Degradation will shift spectral overtones requiring re-training models. #forensics #foodscience

cra.wallonie.be/fr/vincent-bae...
Vincent BAETEN

Scientific Director - Invited Assist. Prof. at UcL +32 81 87 52 01 +32 472 96 38 76

Walloon Agricultural Research Centre
Show threadMatthew CollinsMay 6, 2025
5️⃣ Despite inevitable challenges, the community is now generating numerous sex estimations from ancient samples, creating an ideal testbed to validate this method against known specimens. #palaeoproteomics #methodvalidation
Bluesky

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Show threadMatthew CollinsMay 6, 2025
6️⃣ This approach builds on solid foundations from food science - while offering new applications in archaeology. It has legs. NB: @helenfewlass.bsky.social, you will soon have your NIR model for bone collagen estimation out... right? 👍 #teammasspec #archaeology #bioarchaeology