The major source of metals in the upper atmosphere is the ablation of the ~34 tonnes of interplanetary dust that enters each day from space (Carrillo-Sanchez et al., 2016). This gives rise to the layers of metal atoms and ions that occur globally in the upper mesosphere/lower thermosphere (MLT) region between 75 and 120 km. Metal species in the upper atmosphere offer a unique way of observing processes in this region and of testing the accuracy of climate models in the domain. The main objective of this project will be to explore the MLT chemistry of two elements – Al and Ni. These elements have not been previously studied in this region of the atmosphere with the exception of the first Ni layer measurements by (Collins and Martus., 2015). This research presents the kinetic studies of Al + O₂ to form AlO as well as the first attempted lidar measurements of the AlO layer, with a total of ~18 hours of observations. If successful, this would be the first time that a molecular metallic species was observed in the atmosphere. Further lidar measurements of Ni layer will also be made, which appears to be significantly broader than the well-known Na and Fe layers. The lidar observations were performed at the Leibniz Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Germany. A novel flow tube calibration setup was designed for the lidar to ensure that each species was measured at the specified wavelength.