UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Penn State and Croatian faculty, including from the University’s partner the University of Split, recently collaborated on the identification of the remains of Sister Marija Krucifiksa Kozulić (1852–1922), a Croatian nun who is in consideration for beatification by the Vatican. The team of researchers consists of colleagues who have collaborated in the forensic sciences for years, including members of the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory in the United States.
Mitchell Holland, professor of biochemistry and molecular biology and forensic science in the Eberly College of Science, and Dragan Primorac, the former minister of science, education and sports of The Republic of Croatia and the first Penn State global ambassador, appointed in 2016, have been friends and colleagues for decades. Their friendship has led to collaborative projects between the two universities in a diverse area of fields, supported by seed grants from the Office of Global Programs. For more information on the partnership, see this Penn State News article.
Forensic science in particular has been an area of strong collaboration and has resulted in completion of the Sister Marija project.
"I am grateful to the Office of Global Programs at Penn State for the continuous support of the collaboration between scientists from Penn State and the University of Split, resulting in a historical identification of Sister Marija and her biological sister Teresa almost 100 years after Sister Marija's burial,” said Primorac. “Sister Marija was the symbol of love and humanity, and all of us are happy that our data became crucial for the church to move forward with Sister Marija's beatification.”