Jennifer Wakefield

Contact

• workThe Limes
  Sutton Bonington Campus
  Sutton Bonington
  Leicestershire
  LE12 5RD
  UK
• Jennifer.Wakefield1@nottingham.ac.uk

Biography

I received my BSc in Chemistry from The University of Aberdeen (2011) and Masters degree in Biomedical and Forensic studies in Egyptology from the University of Manchester (2012). The project for my first MSc was investigating embalming materials on mummy tissue using gas chromatography- mass spectroscopy (GC-MS) focusing on the source of the bitumen and what that means for trade routes. I also have a second Masters in Drug Discovery and Development from The University of Aberdeen (2014). The project for this second MSc was on determining the metabolites produced by co-culturing bacteria and fungi looking for new anti-fungal or anti-bacterial compounds using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and liquid chromatography- mass spectroscopy (LC-MS). Over the years since and during her undergraduate I have volunteered on multiple archaeology excavations in Italy and Bulgaria during the summer, and at the archaeology department conservation laboratory at The University of Aberdeen and the Zoology Museum at The University of Aberdeen. I completed my PhD (2020) in Sustainable chemistry at the University of Nottingham. My PhD was investigating natural polymers for conservation of the wooden Oseberg artefacts as part of the Saving Oseberg project. This included analysis of the polymers using analytical ultracentrifugation (AUC), NMR and FT-IR and investigated treated wood using SEM-EDS and FT-IR. Following my PhD I worked in industry for 2.5 years at UCB a pharmaceutical company using AUC to analyse therapeutic antibodies before taking up the Postdoctoral Fellow position at the Museum of Cultural History with the University of Oslo.

Research Summary

My current research is researching consolidants for archaeological textiles as part of the TexRec project. It is a joint project with University of Nottingham led by the Museum of Cultural History in… read more

Current Research

My current research is researching consolidants for archaeological textiles as part of the TexRec project. It is a joint project with University of Nottingham led by the Museum of Cultural History in Oslo. The TexRec project's focus is on the Oseberg Tapestries from a Viking ship burial. As part of this project I am investigating polysaccharides that could be used for conservation of archaeological textiles which are very fragile condition. This research will involve investigating dimensional changes, colour changes and examining into interactions with the wool using FT-IR and SEM-EDS. Finally I will be investigating whether future dye analysis will be impacted by treatment. Additionally I will be analysing the Oseberg tapestries for evidence of dyes to examine the source of dyes and the original colours and where the dyes might have originated from. My interests lies in the application of analytical chemistry for archaeology, archaeological conservation and drug discovery.