“We have used the services offered by the MIS team for 5 years now and I would not hesitate to recommend them to another company. I have found them to be both efficient and receptive to the needs of their customers. Their level of communication has always been excellent.”

A.J., East Malling Research (UK).

Meet the Team

Head of Laboratory, Principal Scientist

Prof Wolfram Meier-Augenstein, PhD, CChem, FRSC

Wolfram is the Principal Stable Isotope Scientist at the James Hutton Institute, a Visiting Professor at the Robert Gordon University (Aberdeen) and the Head of Mylnefield Isotope Signatures, which is part of Mylnefield Research Services. Wolfram is also one of the three directors of FIRMS Ltd, the Forensic Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometry Network, an organisation that seeks to develop the scope of stable isotope techniques in forensic applications and to ensure its best practice.
He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry and has over 18 years of experience in the field of stable isotope technology including its application as well as method and instrument development, has contributed to several textbooks on the subject of stable isotope analysis and has recently written a textbook dedicated to Stable Isotope Forensics.
He has assisted various national and international police forces in over 16 murder enquiries with provision of forensic intelligence based on Stable Isotope Profiles or "Signatures" to aid victim identification. Owing to his involvement in forensic case work, Wolfram is a FIRMS approved Forensic Lead Practitioner and a registered expert adviser with the UK's National Policing Improvement Agency (NPIA). He was recently invited to join the Science Advisory Board of Oritain Global Ltd, an internationally operating company based in New Zealand, which provides a certification service for food provenance / food authenticity of regional speciality foods.

Senior Research Fellow

Dr Helen Kemp PhD.

Helen Kemp was awarded a PhD from the University of Dundee, School of Anatomy & Physiology in 1996 after which she trained in the use of stable isotopes in non-invasive human metabolic studies specialising in liver function diagnostics & gastric-emptying clinical trials before spending 5 years as Research Fellow at Queen's University Belfast, Environmental Forensics & Human Health Laboratory.

At JHI, Helen is responsible for the day-to-day running of the Stable Isotope Facility which offers contract analysis (BSIA and CSIA), method development and consultancy to a large and expanding customer base including research institutions and commercial industries throughout Europe and beyond.

Helen has considerable experience in bulk stable isotope analysis (²H, ¹⁸O, ¹³C and ¹⁵N) and has wide research interests including stable isotope profiling of controlled drugs (ecstasy and heroin), explosives and their pre-cursors, counterfeit products and soft fruits. Helen is a registered Expert Advisor to the National Police Improvement Agency (NPIA) where she assists law enforcement agencies in the UK and the USA with cold-case investigations, victim recovery and human provenancing.

Senior Analyst

Lee Hunter

Lee holds a BSc Hons in Biological Chemistry.

He has 2 years experience in bulk carbon/nitrogen isotope analysis and 6 years experience in lipid analysis.

He is the designated operator of our SerCon Geo-20/20 coupled to an ANCA-GSL, responsible for day-to-day running of the instrument and its routine maintenance.

He is also proficient in TLC, GC, HPLC and several wet chemistry techniques.
Lee has a keen interest in developing his career in analytical chemistry and regularly attends training courses on the theory and practice of lipid analysis.

Project Manager

David Somerville

David Somerville holds a BSc in Nursing Studies from Abertay University, and an MEd from Dundee University. David has approaching 20 years of pharmaceutical clinical trial management experience, and knowledge of the regulatory (GCP & GMP) environment.

Prior to joining Mylnefield Research Services Ltd (MRS), David has held senior roles within the CRO industry, including Director of Operations and Sales & Marketing Director for a clinical pharmacology unit, based at Ninewells Hospital & Medical School, Dundee, Scotland.

David supports the project management needs of the MRS and James Hutton Institute research projects, and assists with the further development of particularly the companies analytical services.