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REPORT:PaleoChemistry

Release time:2018-02-06 12:43Clicks:

Topic: PaleoChemistry

Speaker: Timothy D. Huang

National Chung Hsing University & Guest Professor of Jilin University, Collage of Life Science and the Graduate Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Taiwan.

 Prof. Timothy D. Huang and Prof. Robert R. Reise have published jointly in the Nature Communications titled “Evidence of preserved collagen in an Early Jurassic sauropodomorph dinosaur revealed by synchrotron FTIR microspectroscopy”. Prof. Huang, on behalf of the whole team, will give a report on their resent research results. 

  Abstract (from: www.nature.com ) 
 
  Fossilized organic remains are important sources of information because they provide a unique form of biological and evolutionary information, and have the long-term potential for genomic explorations. Here we report evidence of protein preservation in a terrestrial vertebrate found inside the vascular canals of a rib of a 195-million-year-old sauropodomorph dinosaur, where blood vessels and nerves would normally have been present in the living organism. The in situ synchrotron radiation-based Fourier transform infrared (SR-FTIR) spectra exhibit the characteristic infrared absorption bands for amide A and B, amide I, II and III of collagen. Aggregated haematite particles (α-Fe2O3) about 6∼8 μm in diameter are also identified inside the vascular canals using confocal Raman microscopy, where the organic remains were preserved. We propose that these particles likely had a crucial role in the preservation of the proteins, and may be remnants partially contributed from haemoglobin and other iron-rich proteins from the original blood.

Timothy D. Huang, Professor of National Chung Hsing University & Guest Professor of Jilin University, Collage of Life Science and the Graduate Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Taiwan. His research results hve published several research papers in the journal Nature and awarded as one of the world’s top 10 outstanding scientific discoveries in 2013.

Robert R. Reisz, is currently Vice-Dean of Graduate School at University of Toronto and Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). He has published more than 100 scientific articles on subjects as diverse as lungfish and dinosaurs, but is best known for his work on early amniotes. His research includes a number of groundbreaking discoveries, including the oldest known dinosaur embryos, the oldest known bipedal reptile, and the oldest known diapsid reptile.

Event Date: Feb 25, 2017 (Saturday)

Event Time: 09:30a.m.

Venue: Room A408, Tang Auchin Building