The Cyprus Institute

Sila Kayalp

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Ms Sila Kayalp is a PhD student in the Cyprus Institute. She has BSc (Hons) in Forensic Biology and MSc in Advanced Forensic Analysis from the University of West of England, Bristol, UK. She was interested in technological, scientific and instrumental approaches therefore in her MSc project she worked on developing an instrument by combining data from two analytical instruments (FC-FID with Thermal Desorption) and test if ketamine can be detected in urine faster than before.

After the master degree her interest directed to Bioarchaeology. After doing a summer internship in the Cyprus Institute she decided to pursue a doctoral study under the supervision of Dr Kirsi Lorentz. For her doctoral studies she is currently working on ancient tissue remains from the 3rd millennium BCE Shahr-i Sokhta, from Anatolia, and from Egyptian mummies under the guidance of Dr Lorentz and her international collaborators.

Her doctoral research focuses on characterization of the ancient skin samples from different contexts (natural desiccated; intentionally mummified) as to their alteration, using novel correlated multimodal imaging approaches. She was participating in the application of Synchrotron Radiation on variety of samples (teeth, bones, hair, etc) collected from archaeological sites with Dr Lorentz’s team as a part of project in SESAME. These projects included the application of SR-FTIR and SR XRF/XAFS to study the preservation states and elemental compositions of bones and teeth. She is also working on various projects as a Research Assistant such as Platform for Biosciences and Human Health in Cyprus: MicroCT Enabled and Synchrotron Radiation Enabled Analyses (BioMERA), Correlated Multimodal Imaging in Life Science (COMULIS) and Beamline for Tomography at SESAME (BEATS) project on behalf of Cyprus Institute.

Research Interests

• Examination and comparison of ancient skin samples.
• Correlated multimodal imaging approaches
• X-rays, tomography