Research in dentistry will continue through the work of young researchers already begun in the past year, and which will continue around the painful body in a qualitative and ethical perspective.
Projects
The ethics researchers intend to continue their research on the observation of the diversity of procedures for informing relatives in Europe, in the field of rare diseases.
This inter-team project will focus on a specific case where the patient's body is treated using the resources of another's body. In this case, the body is no longer simply the receptacle of treatments but becomes itself a means of treatment available to patients in a life-threatening situation (leukemia, sickle cell disease, etc.).
In the event of death, other social norms unfold because respect for the body does not disappear with death. The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has given an insight into the cultural invariants in the respect due to the body of the deceased. The duty of decency that the living recognize towards the cadaveric body is imposed even when the person has donated his or her body to science, within a recently reinforced normative framework. During the next contract, the removal of elements from the cadaveric body at the request of the judicial authorities will be the subject of a renewed deontological approach through the digitization of forensic resources.
Research on the estimation of the age of immature children is one of the strong identity markers of our team, and has given it international recognition for nearly 20 years. In a forensic context, the challenge is to make the decision of the Justice system more reliable in order to qualify a crime or a homicide (reaching the age of fetal viability, foeticide or neonaticide, justified choice of one method rather than another). In an archaeo-thanatological context, the challenge is to understand and interpret modes of burial or choices of burial sites according to age categories, and to be able to discuss the socio-cultural aspects of age-dependent funeral rites.
As a "forensic science", forensic anthropology must meet strict methodological constraints with regard to the stakes of the conclusions drawn. The reliability of the analytical processing chains of remains (skeletonized or not) which leads to the estimation of the biological profile presented in a court of law is part of it, and an interdisciplinary approach integrating the recent advances in the field of Artificial Intelligence and machine learning is able to bring significant progress.
The Collège Interdisciplinaire de Balistique Lésionnelle " CIBLé " brings together scientists, physicians, and forensic experts from the police and gendarmerie in order to study body trauma related to ballistic impacts. Several members of our team are involved and collaborate on "historical" case studies, as well as on expert appraisals of current judicial cases. A photographic atlas and a database are being created, and annual workshops are organized during national and international scientific events (French Society of Legal Medicine days, FASE symposium). A synthesis book is being prepared for publication by 2027.
Of interest to the entire historical depth explored by our team, the characterization of bone trauma is a central issue in the study of an individual's skeletal remains.