Introduction:

Our group is a pioneer in the use of Laser induced breakdown spectroscopy and artificial intelligence (artificial neural networks) for the regrouping of individuals from bones and teeth.

LIBS in combination with NN is a useful tool that allows grouping a set of skeletal remains facilitating the task of reconstruction with a considerably lower cost compared to other techniques.

The method provides a good post-mortem application to discriminate different individuals using any bone or tooth from each individual thanks to the uniqueness of the spectral fingerprint of each individual.

Despite the differences in elemental composition in teeth and bones from the same individual, all samples were correctly assigned to the individual they came from. NN is able to maximize inter-individual differences and minimize intra-individual variability.

The combination of LIBS and NN has been used in an innovative way to analyze skeletal remains from different individuals, allowing the development of a model suitable for reunification with 100% accuracy.

 

 

Results

See for example:

• Cáceres, J.O.; Sainz de los Terreros, J.Y. 

  A real-world approach to identifying animal bones and Lower Pleistocene fossils by laser induced breakdown spectroscopy.

   

  Talanta, Vol. 235 122780 (2021)

• Moncayo, S.; Manzoor, S.; Navarro-Villoslada, F.; Caceres, J.O. 

  Evaluation of supervised chemometric methods for sample classification by Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy.

   

  Chemometrics and Intelligent Laboratory Systems, Vol. 146, pp. 354 (2015)

• Moncayo S.; Manzoor S.; Ugidos T.; Navarro-Villoslada F.; Caceres J.O. 

  Discrimination of human bodies from bones and teeth remains by Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy and Neural Networks.

   

  Spectrochimica Acta - Part B Atomic Spectroscopy, Vol. 101, pp. 21-25 (2014)