Wolfram Meier-Augenstein

Wolfram Meier-Augenstein is a Professor at Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen, a registered forensic expert advisor with the British National Crime Agency and a member of the Advisory Board of the journal Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry. He holds a doctorate in natural sciences awarded by the Ruprechts-Karl University Heidelberg (Germany) in 1989. The subject of PhD thesis was the structure/activity relationship of stereo-isomers of the Periodic Leaf Movement Factor 1 that triggers the nastic leaf movement of Mimosa pudica L. As Feodor-Lynen-Fellow of the Alexander-von-Humboldt Foundation and PD Fellow of the South African Research Foundation he spent 1.5 years as post-doctoral fellow with Prof. B.V. Burger at the University of Stellenbosch. Here he synthesised and studied cyclodextrine derivatives used as chiral selectors for enantioselective gas chromatography. From there, his career took him to the University Children’s Hospital Heidelberg, the University of California San Diego, the University of Dundee, the Queen’s University Belfast and back to Scotland, first to the James Hutton Institute (Dundee) and finally the Robert Gordon University (Aberdeen). From 2010 to 2014 he served as Director of the Forensic Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometry Network (FIRMS).[1] while from 2009 to 2013 he was a Council member of the British Association for Human Identification (BAHID).[2] Dr Meier-Augenstein was one of the scientists consulted by An Garda Síochána investigating the case of the dismembered torso found in the Dublin Royal Canal.[3] This case has gained some notoriety under the name Scissor Sisters (convicted killers). He was also one of the scientists consulted by the police investigating the Norfolk headless body case.[4][5] Most recently, Dr Meier-Augenstein was involved with the case dubbed "The Lady of the Hills" or the "Thai Bride". His interpretation of stable isotope signatures obtained from remains of the murder victim corroborated one line of investigation that the victim might have grown up in Thailand.[6] A subsequently launched public appeal received a response from a Thai family who believed the victim could be their daughter.[7] DNA tests finally confirmed the identity of the victim as Lamduan Armitage, nee Seekanya, originally from Thailand who had moved to the UK in 1991.[8] Dr Meier-Augenstein is the author of the book "Stable Isotope Forensics", the first textbook dedicated to principles and forensic applications of stable isotope analytical techniques.[9]