Two years of intensive work with the Keuka College Human Skeletal Remains Collection culminated for senior biology major Jade Scaptura on April 16 as she presented the results of her undergraduate honors thesis research to the campus community.
Jade’s research represents an innovative synthesis of investigative methods – and a crucial first step toward restoring the identity of real individuals whose stories have long been lost to time.
Earlier that day, Jade, who’s also minoring in forensic chemistry, successfully defended her thesis, “Sex Determination of Individuals from the Keuka College Human Skeletal Remains Collection by Analyzing the Teeth, Mandibles, and Enamel Proteins,” which was supervised by Keuka College faculty members Jessica Katolik and Dr. Luciana Cursino Parent.
Jade’s findings – which reveal the sex of 15 unidentified individuals in the collection – were also the product of a new international collaboration, with Dr. Robert Layfield and his research team at the University of Nottingham in the UK contributing key expertise and experimental support.
“When Jade ran up against the limitations of traditional measurement-based techniques, she turned to the literature to find another approach,” explained Prof. Katolik. “That’s where she came across Dr. Layfield’s work on ELISA – enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay – as a novel way to detect sex-associated biomolecules. She then contacted Dr. Layfield directly and they established a working partnership.”
The transatlantic team plans to continue collaborating, with a joint journal article in the works.
“Nearly every researcher experiences frustration and doubt – it’s practically inherent to the scientific method. What’s truly remarkable about Jade is that unexpected results didn’t discourage her. Instead, they motivated her to think creatively and keep working on the problem from a different angle.”
Jade’s scientific journey began at Watkins Glen High School, where she took a forensic science elective.
“For that class, I made a presentation about a case handled by the Innocence Project where DNA testing was used to exonerate a wrongfully convicted person,” Jade said. “I realized that science can really make a difference, and I wanted to be part of it.”
At Keuka College, Jade has taken full advantage of every chance to get hands-on experience, both inside and outside the campus labs. For one of her annual Field Period® internships, she trained as a forensic biologist at the Center for Forensic Science Research and Education (CFSRE) in Horsham, Pennsylvania.
“I chose that internship because I wanted to see what it was like to work in a crime lab,” she said. “But I’ve loved my thesis research with human bones so much that I’ve decided to pursue a Ph.D. in forensic anthropology.”
“Through this project – and through the continued mentorship of my advisors, Dr. Cursino Parent and Prof. Katolik, who’ve pushed me to take charge and to do my best work as a researcher and writer – I feel really prepared for what’s next.”
The Keuka College community eagerly awaits the discoveries that lie ahead as Jade Scaptura crosses the graduation stage this May and enters the next phase of her scientific career.
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