A SIXTH-YEAR pupil working alongside a groundbreaking forensic team at Dundee University has landed a place in a national science competition.
Menzieshill High School pupil Omar Asad (18) was awarded a scholarship to work with Dr Clare Lamb in the university’s internationally renowned Centre for Anatomy and Human Identification (Cahid) to examine the factors responsible for the flexibility and suppleness in Thiel-embalmed cadavers.
Omar will now go to London in March to take part in the National Science and Engineering Competition as a result of his project work over the summer.
Omar helped Dr Lamb and the team further their knowledge of the biochemistry underpinning the technique by discovering that a fragmentation of muscle fibres enables Thiel cadavers to retain lifelike properties.
Omar said he was delighted to have been nominated for the final of the competition, and that the experience of working at Cahid will stand him in good stead for his future studies.
He said: “I was already planning a career in science, but this has made me doubly sure that this is what I wanted to do and that anatomy was the area I wanted to study.
“It has also given me more confidence to pursue a career in science and I learned a lot from everyone at the university.
“I was given the opportunity through the Nuffield Foundation and was offered the choice of three projects.
“As I’ve applied to study anatomy this seemed the most relevant as well as the most interesting, so I asked to work with Cahid and I’m delighted I did.
“The aim of the project was to evaluate the unique lifelike properties of bodies embalmed using the Thiel method.
“We compared samples from Thiel cadavers with those using formalin, the traditional embalming fluid.
“What we found was that the difference was down to a fragmentation of muscle fibres that didn’t occur in formalin cadavers.
“I’m really looking forward to going down to London in March and finding out how I get on in the final.
“I was hoping for the best when I submitted my entry but I knew this was a very unique project so that made me more confident of being selected for the final.”
The Thiel method of embalming gives surgeons, dentists, students and medical researchers a more realistic method of testing techniques, practising procedures and developing new equipment and approaches.
Cahid is leading the way in the use of Thiel and is building a new morgue to fully realise its potential.
Cahid director Professor Sue Black congratulated Omar on his nomination, saying: “Omar’s research project will certainly raise some eyebrows.
“He was a pleasure to work with over the summer and the results of his project will help us to gain a much better understanding of the biochemistry of the Thiel embalming process.”
Professor Black and other members of the Cahid team featured in the major BBC2 series History Cold Case.
Omar’s research project is one of 200 that will be showcased to an audience of around 65,000 during the Big Bang Fair in London from March 14-17.
In all, 30 awards with a prize fund totalling £50,000 and the titles of UK Young Engineer of the Year and Young Scientist of the Year are up for grabs.
The competition is open for entries from January to October each year, through regional heats and online applications.
From the thousands of entries, 200 finalists are invited to showcase their work.
gogston@thecourier.co.uk