Dr. Jennifer DeBruyn and Ph.D. student Allison Mason are working towards developing an answer to how differences in human bodies affects post-mortem processes. Along with their collaborators in the departments of Anthropology and Chemistry, they studied the decomposition of 19 donated bodies placed between February 2019 and March 2020 at University of Tennessee’s Anthropology Research Facility (aka The Body Farm). Body mass index (BMI) turned out to be an important factor in predicting decomposition rates and responses. Individuals with high BMI took longer to complete soft tissue decomposition.  Normal, overweight and obese individuals caused neutral or acidic pH and higher diversity of microbes, including a proliferation of Saccharomyces yeasts, while underweight donors resulted in alkaline soil pH and a decrease in microbial diversity.  This is a first step towards understanding the underlying mechanisms as to why bodies show variable decomposition rates, which is an important forensic question. For more information https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/965450