Edward John Odes

Edward John Odes is a PhD candidate in Anatomical Sciences, studying disease, pathology and lifestyle reconstruction of South African Plio-Pleistocene hominins. During the course of his PhD he has discovered found several ancient bone pathologies in the hominin record, including the first malignant cancer in a 1.7 million year old hominin. He completed an undergraduate degree in Commerce (B. Com) from the University of South Africa. Changing disciplines he then enrolled for a BSc (Honours) and graduated Cum Laude from the University of the Witwatersrand, where his study involved the reassessment of hominin species, cranio-dental morphology and the investigation of boundaries between hominin species using a statistical species model originated by Prof Francis Thackeray of the Evolutionary Studies Institute (Wits). He then graduated with an MSc (Palaeontology) from the University of the Witwatersrand, where he investigated the hominins of Sterkfontein for the presence of dental calculus (plaque) and fossil phytoliths (fossil food remains), finding the existence of the oldest Plio-Pleistocene phytolith morphotypes from the dental plaque of Australopithecus africanus from Sterkfontein Cave. He is currently supervised by Professor Lee Berger (Wits) and Dr Patrick Randolph-Quinney (UCLAN).