Marc Dickinson's (PDRA1) work focuses on deveoping our understanding of the way both the inorganic and orginic components of enamel breakdown over geological timescales and how these patterns of degradation can be use as a tool for estimating the age of fossilised remains. During Marc's PhD he was interested in developing a method for the separation of amino acids from inorganic phosphate as well as, testing the suitability of enamel for application to building geochronologies. This work involved simulating long term degradation in a laboritory and the testing the method of age estimation against an independantly dated sequence in the UK.

Manuel Domínguez-Rodrigo is co-director of the IDEA (Institute of Evolution in Africa) and professor at the Alcalá de Henares University.

He has been co-director of the paleoanthropological projects of Peninj (Lago Natron) (1995-2005), Eyasi (2002-2006) and, currently, of the Olduvai Gorge (2006-present). He has participated as a guest researcher in the project of Gona (Ethiopia). He has published 8 books and more than 200 impact articles.

He has been guest professor and researcher at the Universities of Harvard, Rutgers and St. Louis and the Royal Complutense College in Harvard (USA). His specialties are taphonomy and paleoanthropology.

He is a pioneer in the application of high computing tools, such as algorithms of “machine learning” and “deep learning” or “computer vision” to the world of paleoanthropology. He is currently co-director of TOPPP.

Lindsay graduated from Northwestern University in 2017 with a degree in Materials Science and Engineering. Her work utilized microkinetic modeling approaches to understand curing and aging mechanisms in oil-based paint. She is keenly interested in applying kinetic modeling and other computational techniques to problems in archaeological and cultural heritage science. She currently works as a part of the Cultural Heritage Research Group at the Jerzy Haber Institute in Krakow, Poland focusing on connecting mechanisms of chemical change due to age and environmental conditions, with risk assessments for physical damage such as cracking. As part of the Wisdom Teeth Project, Lindsay will advise on computational strategies for unraveling and modeling the complex pathways of protein degradation and aging.

Laila Patinglag’s present research interest is in the field of microfluidics and its potential for analytical, diagnostic and treatment applications. Her previous works focused on the design and development of integrated analysis and processing systems based on microfluidic on-chip devices. During her undergraduate studies, she was involved in developing a microfluidic detection system for pharmaceutical analysis. This led to pursuing a PhD degree in microfluidics, generating an integrated microfluidic atmospheric pressure plasma reactor. As part of the Wisdom Teeth Project, Laila will work on developing a potential microfluidic device for IcPD analysis of enamel.

Kirsty Penkman's research focuses on the application of analytical chemistry to archaeological and geological questions. Her chemistry degree at the University of Oxford provided a unique opportunity to work in the field of archaeological science for her 4 th year MChem project; this interest took her to Newcastle for a PhD in geochemistry, and then to York with a postdoc and a Wellcome fellowship. Now a Reader in Analytical Chemistry, her focus is on the analysis of proteins: their pathways of degradation, methods for their detection, and how these molecules can inform us of an organism’s life and death history. Collaborations with earth scientists and archaeologists, which have been integral to this research, have helped to push the analytical science forward, whilst advancing our understanding of our earth’s history. She runs the NERC-recognised amino acid dating facility, NEaar, and her work has been honoured by prizes from the Quaternary Research Association (2008 Lewis Penny Medal), the Geological Society (2010 Lyell Fund award), the Leverhulme Trust (2012 Philip Leverhulme Prize) and the Royal Society of Chemistry (2016 Joseph Black Award) and the New York Academy of Sciences (2020 Blavatnik Chemistry Laureate).

As the PI in the Wisdom Teeth Project, Kirsty is responsible for overall administration and co-ordination of the project and research team, supervision of PDRA Dickinson, will participate in field sampling, contribute to the synthesis and interpretation of the AAR, imaging and MS results, and help with the outreach/education impact.

Kirsty Shaw has over ten years’ experience in microfluidics and development of Lab-on-a-Chip devices for clinical diagnostics, conservation genetics and forensic applications. Her work includes the design and manufacture of microfluidic systems, as well as development and conversion of molecular biology techniques on to these miniaturised platforms. In particular, her research has looked at the benefits provided by LOC devices to analysis of ancient DNA from bones, and field-testing of LOC device in Ecuador for species identification. Kirsty will lead the part of the project developing the potential of microfluidics for IcPD analysis of enamel. This will mainly focus on reducing the amount of sample required for analysis enabling study of more precious teeth samples.

Professor Francis Thackeray is a South African who obtained his PhD in anthropology through Yale University (1984), analysing faunal remains from Late Quaternary assemblages at Wonderwerk Cave. Prior to that he studied at the University of Cape Town where he obtained a BSc, majoring in zoology (1974); BSc (Hons) in archaeology (1975); and MSc in environmental studies (1977). He has developed a statistical (probabilistic) definition of a species, applicable in palaeontological contexts. With Professor José Braga (Toulouse University), he is a co-director of excavations at Kromdraai in the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site in South Africa, with particular interest in the possibility of obtaining dates from the analysis of teeth (proteins etc). From 1990 he was Head of the Department of Palaeontology and Palaeoenvironmental Studies at the Transvaal Museum (Ditsong National Museum of Natural History in Pretoria), before being appointed as Director of the museum, a position he held until January 2009. He served as Director of the Institute for Human Evolution at the University of the Witwatersrand between 2009 and 2013. Now retired, he is currently an Honorary Research Associate with the Evolutionary Studies Institute at Wits University.