Recent advancements in instrumentation have allowed for the analysis of soft tissue and collagen in fossils, previously thought to have been destroyed over time. It is our long-range goal to develop a safe and effective method for the extraction of amines from this tissue in insects tens of millions of years old. This method can then be applied to older species, such as dinosaurs. This will allow for a better understanding of evolution. However, finding bones that are preserved well enough to analyze the collagen is rare. Ancient insects preserved in amber are perfect specimens for developing methods to analyze molecules such as biogenic amines or DNA. These samples are not rare and the collagen is preserved well enough complete analysis. The principal goal of the planned research is to extract and identify concentrations of known amines from an insect swarm encased in Dominican Amber using reverse phase HPLC. The development of this method will provide an effective way to obtain molecular samples in dinosaurs, thus advancing the understanding of evolution.

Analysis of biogenic amines present in fossilized black flies

255th National Meeting (2018)

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