Instrumental to forensic investigations is the ability to identify unknown human remains providing key evidence to criminal cases, resolution to missing persons, and assistance in mass or natural disasters. Identification of remains in an effort to determine age is an area of forensics that has received considerable attention. Traditional methods in age determination such as morphology are often biased, antiquated, and frequently result in a large margin of error. Conversely, the emergence of new forensic techniques provide promise to reduce the margin of error in determining age. One such technique has focused on relating the extent of amino acid racemization in teeth to age. Past research has focused primarily on the analysis of aspartic acid due to its high racemization rate. Our research indicates that glutamic acid also shows promise as related to age determination. Results will be presented illustrating optimization of gas chromatography using a chiral column for separation of amino acids found in dentin and their enantiomeric ratio quantification. Age correlation data will be presented on collected teeth ranging from mid-teens to early seventies.
","abstract_html":"<p>Instrumental to forensic investigations is the ability to identify unknown human remains providing key evidence to criminal cases, resolution to missing persons, and assistance in mass or natural disasters. Identification of remains in an effort to determine age is an area of forensics that has received considerable attention. Traditional methods in age determination such as morphology are often biased, antiquated, and frequently result in a large margin of error. Conversely, the emergence of new forensic techniques provide promise to reduce the margin of error in determining age. One such technique has focused on relating the extent of amino acid racemization in teeth to age. Past research has focused primarily on the analysis of aspartic acid due to its high racemization rate. Our research indicates that glutamic acid also shows promise as related to age determination. Results will be presented illustrating optimization of gas chromatography using a chiral column for separation of amino acids found in dentin and their enantiomeric ratio quantification. Age correlation data will be presented on collected teeth ranging from mid-teens to early seventies.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Toll, Andrea Lee"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Master of Science","degree_level":null,"degree_discipline":"Department of Chemistry","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Dr. Darwin Dahl (Director), Dr. Eric Conte, Dr. Kevin Williams"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2012,"date_issued":"2012-05-01T07:00:00Z","date_published":"2012-05-01T07:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T06:08:09Z","subjects":["gas chromography of chiral molecules","forensic determination of age","age calibration curve","tooth dentin","Chemistry","Digestive, Oral, and Skin Physiology","Medical Biochemistry","Medical Pathology","Musculoskeletal, Neural, and Ocular Physiology","Oral Biology and Oral Pathology"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://digitalcommons.wku.edu/theses/1144","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Dr. Darwin Dahl (Director), Dr. Eric Conte, Dr. Kevin Williams"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Toll, Andrea Lee"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Department of Chemistry"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Science"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["gas chromography of chiral molecules","forensic determination of age","age calibration curve","tooth dentin","Chemistry","Digestive, Oral, and Skin Physiology","Medical Biochemistry","Medical Pathology","Musculoskeletal, Neural, and Ocular Physiology","Oral Biology and Oral Pathology"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://digitalcommons.wku.edu/theses/1144"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["Instrumental to forensic investigations is the ability to identify unknown human remains providing key evidence to criminal cases, resolution to missing persons, and assistance in mass or natural disasters. Identification of remains in an effort to determine age is an area of forensics that has received considerable attention. Traditional methods in age determination such as morphology are often biased, antiquated, and frequently result in a large margin of error. Conversely, the emergence of new forensic techniques provide promise to reduce the margin of error in determining age. One such technique has focused on relating the extent of amino acid racemization in teeth to age. Past research has focused primarily on the analysis of aspartic acid due to its high racemization rate. Our research indicates that glutamic acid also shows promise as related to age determination. Results will be presented illustrating optimization of gas chromatography using a chiral column for separation of amino acids found in dentin and their enantiomeric ratio quantification. Age correlation data will be presented on collected teeth ranging from mid-teens to early seventies.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Racemization of Amino Acids in Teeth for the Determination of Age"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Dr. Darwin Dahl (Director), Dr. Eric Conte, Dr. Kevin Williams"],"dc:creator":["Toll, Andrea Lee"],"dc:description.abstract":["Instrumental to forensic investigations is the ability to identify unknown human remains providing key evidence to criminal cases, resolution to missing persons, and assistance in mass or natural disasters. Identification of remains in an effort to determine age is an area of forensics that has received considerable attention. Traditional methods in age determination such as morphology are often biased, antiquated, and frequently result in a large margin of error. Conversely, the emergence of new forensic techniques provide promise to reduce the margin of error in determining age. One such technique has focused on relating the extent of amino acid racemization in teeth to age. Past research has focused primarily on the analysis of aspartic acid due to its high racemization rate. Our research indicates that glutamic acid also shows promise as related to age determination. Results will be presented illustrating optimization of gas chromatography using a chiral column for separation of amino acids found in dentin and their enantiomeric ratio quantification. Age correlation data will be presented on collected teeth ranging from mid-teens to early seventies.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://digitalcommons.wku.edu/theses/1144"],"dc:subject":["gas chromography of chiral molecules","forensic determination of age","age calibration curve","tooth dentin","Chemistry","Digestive, Oral, and Skin Physiology","Medical Biochemistry","Medical Pathology","Musculoskeletal, Neural, and Ocular Physiology","Oral Biology and Oral Pathology"],"dc:title":["Racemization of Amino Acids in Teeth for the Determination of Age"],"dc:type":["Thesis"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Department of Chemistry"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Science"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T06:08:09Z"}