PROGRAMME
13:30–13:35, Introduction
Furqan A. Shah, Associate Professor, Biomaterials
University of Gothenburg, Sweden
13:40–14:40, Scanning small, seeing more: Micro-CT usage in medicine, bioarchaeology and forensic contexts
Charlotte Primeau, Assistant Professor, Forensic Imaging
University of Warwick, UK
14:45–15:45, Secrets in our skeleton: Uncovering the tales our bones can tell us about the past
Barbara Veselka, Assistant Professor, Archaeological Science
Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium
ABOUT THE TALKS
Scanning small, seeing more: Micro-CT usage in medicine, bioarchaeology and forensic contexts: Micro-computed tomography (micro-CT) is an imaging modality originally developed for industrial inspection purposes but is increasingly being adopted in medical, biomedical, odontology, archaeological, and forensic research. At Warwick Manufacturing Group (WMG), University of Warwick, the facility houses five industrial micro-CT scanners capable of imaging a wide range of sample types—from small biological specimens to large anatomical or archaeological structures. Micro-CT offers exceptionally high spatial resolution and non-destructive three-dimensional visualisation, enabling detailed internal examination of bone, tissue, and artefacts without physical sectioning. In addition, there is a large 3D printing and surface scanning capability also used for industry, research and cultural heritage. This presentation will outline the key differences between micro-CT and conventional medical CT scanning and will illustrate how micro-CT has been applied at WMG and collaborating institutions to advance diverse areas of research—from investigating biomaterial properties and skeletal elements to reconstructing past lives and supporting forensic investigations of criminal cases. 3D scanning and printing will also be discussed, and how this is used to support cultural heritage, biomechanics and forensic court presentations. Examples from other research groups will also be incorporated to illustrate the full breadth of the diverse capabilities of micro-CT imaging and 3D scanning and printing.
Secrets in our skeleton: Uncovering the tales our bones can tell us about the past: Human remains, burnt and unburnt, are the only direct evidence of individuals that lived in the past, but after being years and years in the ground, a lot of it may be lost. What can we still find out? Basic analysis of the human remains includes the assessment of biological sex and age-at-death, stature, and pathological anomalies. This helps us to reconstruct the distribution of age and sex throughout a cemetery and observe age- and sex-related patterns in diseases. Most methods we used are macroscopic assessments, as these are cheap and often easy to use. However, there are some limitations and often we also employ chemical and microscopic evaluation methods to go deeper. Isotope analyses allow us to identify mobility patterns, land use, and can help us to reconstruct the diet. The application of (micro)computed tomography for the evaluation of pathological anomalies is a non-destructive way of finding out what is going on inside, and in some cases aDNA can help us understand kinship and family ties. With this information we try to reconstruct the sociocultural organization of past populations.
ABOUT THE SPEAKERS
Dr. Charlie (Charlotte) Primeau is an Assistant Professor in Forensic Imaging and leads the forensic micro-CT department at the Warwick Manufacturing Group (WMG), University of Warwick. Her current practice is exclusively focused on forensic post-mortem micro-CT imaging. Dr. Primeau’s expertise supports homicide and serious crime investigations across UK police forces, in cases involving child and vulnerable adult abuse, sharp and blunt force trauma, strangulation, and dismemberment. She has a dual background as a diagnostic radiographer and as a certified forensic anthropologist (FA Level III) with the Royal Anthropological Institute (RAI) of the UK. Her research interest is particularly centred on forensic imaging in the context of child and elder abuse.
Dr. Barbara Veselka is an Assistant Professor of Archaeological Science and Head of the Osteoarchaeology Laboratory at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, where she studies burnt and unburnt human remains at the macroscopic, radiological, and microscopic levels. She holds a Master’s in Archaeology of MesoAmerica and a Master of Science in Human Osteology and Funerary Archaeology from Leiden University, the Netherlands, where she also earned her PhD in Human Osteoarchaeology. Her doctoral thesis (D-lightful Sunshine Disrupted) focused on vitamin D deficiency as a method for reconstructing changes in sociocultural practices resulting from industrialisation in 17th–19th-century Netherlands. The study of vitamin D deficiency remains an important focus of her research on both cremated and inhumated human remains from collections worldwide.
