Contact Dr Charlene Greenwood

Background

After gaining her BSc degree in Forensic Science and Criminology from Keele University, Charlene continued her studies and gained an MSc degree in Forensic Anthropology and Archaeology from Cranfield University. Her PhD entitled 'Physicochemical Modifications to Bone Mineral' was awarded from Cranfield University and was winner of the Best Research Thesis Prize. Since gaining her PhD, Charlene has become an established researcher working collaboratively with internationally known individuals from both academia and industry. Charlene has gained experience across a range of archaeological, biomedical and forensic disciplines with good theoretical knowledge and practical applications.

Charlene's research focus has been to investigate the fundamental chemistry of biological apatites by employing a material science approach and her research has applications within archaeology, pharmaceutical, medical and forensic sectors. Charlene's contributions to archaeology involve unlocking the chemical information contained within bioarchaeomaterials such as cremated bone and dental calculus in order to reconstruct past diet and lifestyles (cooking and funerary practices). Her contributions to forensic research includes enhancing the understanding of changes to bone mineral chemistry during a fire scenario providing more information on the fire event as well as species differentiation. Charlene's main research interests focus on biomedical applications and currently involves material characterisation of diseased bone such as osteoporotic and osteoarthritic tissue for early diagnostic purposes.

Current activities

Charlene is a newly appointed Lecturer within Cranfield Forensic Institute, having previously worked on an ESPRC grant as a Research Fellow, which aimed to unlock the molecular information contained within X-ray scatter signatures from osteoporotic bone specimens. From this research, Charlene was able to formulate a preliminary model for fracture risk based on bone architecture and chemistry. The results from this project were used to secure more funding for development of technology from the EPSRC Institutional Sponsorship Fund.

She is currently working on an internationally collaborative project with Ryerson University Toronto, Ontario, Canada, investigating the physicochemical properties of bone from donors treated for osteoporosis. This project will not only focus on understanding the microarchitectural changes to bone using micro - computed tomography (µ - CT), but will also investigate the physicochemical properties of the bone, to evaluate the effectiveness of these medications. The findings will be examined alongside the elemental analysis carried out by the team at Ryerson.

Charlene also teaches on a variety of modules for the Forensic MSc Programme including Analytical Techniques, Trace Evidence, Fundamentals of Forensic Anthropology: Osteology (FFAO) and Further Forensic Anthropology: Identification (FAAI).

In 2017, Charlene was honoured to accept an invitation from the International Centre of Diffraction Data (ICDD), the world's most prestigious NFP diffraction data provider, to take up a Chair on their Bioceramic sub-panel. The ICDD is the predominant organisation providing support for powder diffraction labs around the world and therefore Charlene will be responsible for the way in which labs worldwide analyse their diffraction data for bioceramic materials.

Research Interests include:-

Biominerals

Diseased Bone

Heated Bone

The role of carbonate in the physicochemical properties of biological apatites

X-ray Diffraction (XRD)

Micro Computed Tomography (µ-CT) Imaging

Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR)

Publications

Articles In Journals

Conference Papers