Carina Marques, assistant professor in the Department of Anthropology and the School of Integrative Biological and Chemical Sciences received a $467,325 grant from the U.S. Department of Justice’s National Institute of Justice to conduct a forensic research project with AI. COURTESY PHOTO
The U.S. Department of Justice’s National Institute of Justice has awarded UTRGV a $467,325 grant for a forensic research project aimed at transforming age-at-death estimation in forensic science.
The principal investigator of the grant is Carina Marques, assistant professor in the Department of Anthropology and the School of Integrative Biological and Chemical Sciences.
The research is a collaborative project involving co-principal investigators Benoit Bertrand and David Navega from the University of Lille, France.
Senior collaborators of the project are Fred Prior from the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Kate Spradley from Texas State University and Eugenia Cunha from the University of Coimbra, Portugal.
Can Saygin, senior vice president for Research and dean of the Graduate College, said he is “very excited” about Marques’ research because of the response.
Saygin said it is important to be a principal investigator in a project of this sort.
“This is the first time UTRGV is receiving a grant as prime,” he said. “We’ve had some sub awards, but this is the first time from this sponsor we’re receiving grants of almost half a million dollars by an assistant professor and where she’s the principal investigator.”
The project, “Developing and Validating Standards for Dental Cementum Age-at-Death- and Season-of-Death Estimation” is a three-year project that integrates the use of dental cementum (cementology) with AI-based methods.
Cementum is “the calcified or mineralized tissue layer covering the root of the tooth which sits inside the gum socket,” according to the news medical life sciences website.
“So with this project we are using the tooth, the root of our teeth that accumulates cementum yearly,” Marques said. “Each year you have a new layer, so you can count those layers and have a much better and more accurate age estimation.”
The key goal of the project is to prove the accuracy of the cementum because “only when we demonstrate that method is reliable, we can use it in court, in the medical legal system.”
Another one of the goals is to identify the factors that affect the cementum.
“So, we are taking individual teeth from north to south to know how climate, latitude and how diseases influence the deposits of the cementum,” she said.
The last goal is to remove human error with an AI method of counting the layers of the teeth.
A website and a web-based software will also be developed with the research.
Forensic practitioners will have access to the website.
“They will upload the picture of the root of the case they were working on on that website,” Marques said.
“The platform, that has artificial intelligence and deep learning on the back, and the program will immediately give the age of death of the person.”
The funds will be used for scholarships for graduate and undergraduate students, microscopes and technological products.
The Rider asked Marques how the research will impact the Rio Grande Valley community.
“I think it will help to solidify forensic sciences at … UTRGV, put UTRGV on the map of forensic sciences in forensic anthropology and get students excited and engaged with the topic of forensics in general,” she replied.
Marques said it also impacts the many migrants on the border.
“I think it can help to narrow down the biological profile, and indirectly help to identify them, so I think that’s another aspect,” she said.
Saygin said her research helps bring different disciplines together and solve “real-life problems.”
He said Marques will create a lot of “success stories” for others.
“Not just from a scientific perspective, but also the students who will go through her lab by being exposed to these topics, to these different institutions, are going to have a very global view out of this experience,” Saygin said.
The Rider asked how being part of research can help students.
Paulina Ocadiz, an interdisciplinary studies graduate student with a focus in anthropology, replied, participating in research will teach her certain skills that not a lot of people have.
“I come out of this and I have this skill that I can have,” Ocadiz said. “Because the ideal for me would be to do a Ph.D. program so then it makes me more competitive.”
She encourages other students to participate in research.
“We’re always there, we’re always open,” Ocadiz said. “And I really want people to know that we have this available here in the Valley.”
Marques said it is important for students to be involved in research and also see how the research can be applied to real-world problems.
She is looking for undergraduate students from different majors to participate in the research.
For more information or questions, email carina.marques@utrgv.edu.
