Berger - Hominin ancient protein study

Palaeoproteomics has established that it can give valuable insight into the sex, phylogenetic relationships and other important molecular information in Primates and other species (see references). Recent work has established that proteins are more likely to be preserved in ancient fossils, far more likely than aDNA. Having such information from southern African ancient hominins, particularly those of enigmatic phylogenetic position will allow us to understand the relationships of these species to living humans and eventually other ancient hominins.
We believe the science has reached a stage where there is a high probability of success for such an experiment. We are therefore proposing the sampling of five teeth from our collections. Two teeth from Australopithecus sediba and three from Homo naledi. Justification of the selection of these samples is made below.
All experiments will be conducted at the Novo Nordisk Foundation Centre for Protein Research, at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark. Prof Enrico Cappellini will oversee all aspects of the experiment. Specimens will be hand couriered to Denmark by the applicant. The applicant has successfully and safely transported numerous hominin fossils to international locations and is familiar with customs and security protocols. Prof Berger will remain in Denmark until sampling is completed, returning with the original fossils to South Africa once the work is done.