Geoforensics and Information Management for crime Investigation (GIMI)

Project Staff - Christopher Vane

Dr. Christopher Vane BSc, PhD.
Senior Scientific Officer,
Section leader General and Organic Chemistry
British Geological Survey
Kingsley Dunham Centre
Keyworth
Nottingham, UK, NG12 5GG

chv@bgs.ac.uk,
www.bgs.ac.uk,

Telephone +44 (0) 115 936 3017
Fax +44(0) 115 936 3460

Current research activities

Dr. Chris vane is a specialist in: Environmental chemistry of organic pollutants in sediments and xenoestrogens in waters, organic petroleum geochemistry, hydrocarbon pollution, use of biomarkers and plant derived biopolymers in soils and coastal sediments as indicators of past land use and palaeoenvironmental change.

He has been with British geological Survey for 5 years.

His current research interests are:

• Chemical characterization of plant materials in leaf litter, soils and sediments
• Biotic and abiotic transformations of organic matter
• Developing a tree ring proxy for the influence of ENSO on climate in the UK
• Analytical pyrolysis of hair
• Partitioning of estrogens and xenoestrogens in estuarine sediments and water
• Petroleum geochemistry, fuel chemistry
• Determination of background levels of organic contaminants in UK soils
• Application of portable GC/MS to environmental and forensic science
• Decomposition of fats in burial sites
• Use of natural biopolymers such as lignin, suberin, tannin, cutin and polysaccharide as environmental tracers, climatic indicators
• Biomarker fingerprinting of solvent soluble extracts of soils and sediments
• Background levels of persistent organic pollutants (PAHs, PCBs, TBT, DDT) in soils and estuarine sediments
• Hydrocarbon geochemistry and differentiation of oils and fuel types
• Application of pyrolysis-GC/MS techniques to the analysis of hair, paints, man-made fibres, waxes and fats.

Recent Publications

Vane C.H. and Trick J.K. 2005. Evidence of adipocere in a burial pit from the foot and mouth epidemic of 1967 using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Forensic Science International, 154, 19-23.

Vane C.H., Drage, T.C., Snape, C.E. 2005. Bark Decay: Polysaccharide loss, lignin resistance and the unmasking of suberin. International Biodeterioration and Biodegradation In press

Langston, W.J., Burt, G.R. Chesman, B.S, and Vane, C.H. 2005. Partitioning, bioavailability and effects of oestrogens and xen-oestrogens in the aquatic environment. Journal of the Marine Biological Association: 85, 1-30. 40

Vane, C.H., Drage, T.C., Snape, C.E. Stephenson. M.H. Foster C.B. 2005 Decay of cultivated apricot wood (Prunus armeniaca) by the ascomycete Hypocrea sulphurea using solid state 13C NMR and Off-line TMAH thermochemolysis with GC-MS.  International Biodeterioration and Biodegradation, 55, 175-185.

Meridith, W., Russell, C.A., Cooper, M., Snape, C.E., Love, G.D., Fabbri, D., Vane C.H. 2004. Trapping hydropyrolysates on silica and their subsequent thermal desorption to facilitate rapid fingerprinting by GC/MS. Organic Geochemistry: 35, 73-89.

Vane, C.H., Drage, T.C., Snape, C.E. 2003. Biodegradation of Oak (Quercus alba) wood during growth of the Shiitake Mushroom (Lentinula edodes): A Molecular Approach. Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry: 51, 4, 947-956.