Carl Heron, Chris Mussell and Lucy Skinner

Protein prospecting – extracting new information from the British Museum collections

Carl Heron, Chris Mussell and Lucy Skinner

Department of Scientific Research - The British Museum

The British Museum has been conducting scientific analysis of organic matter in the collection for close to a century. Before and after the introduction of instrumental methods of analysis, the emphasis has been on the identification of amorphous organic substances including fats, oils, waxes, resins and so on. These investigations complement specialists in the identification of diverse organic materials using microscopy and in organic artefact conservation. Protein analysis has been limited to very small number of investigations notably in the detection of binding media by amino acid analysis.

The Museum also receives external examination requests for both non-destructive and destructive sampling. Very few requests for protein identification by proteomics have been received to date compared with many applications to access human remains for DNA and stable isotope analysis and pottery vessels for lipid analysis. This is likely to change and it prompts consideration of sampling workflows for multiple biomolecular and microscopic targets.

The research opportunities afforded by proteomics applied to the collections are considerable and we have embarked on a series of collaborative projects to explore the potential. We are also evaluating establishing an in-house proteomics facility. This presentation will highlight the work in progress.