Joan Richtsmeier and Chris Klingenberg are chairing a symposium entitled
"Genetic and developmental basis of the evolution of complex traits" at the
third meeting of the European
society for Evolutionary Developmental biology (EED) in Paris on July 9, 2010.
June 2010 Archives
Joan Richtsmeier will be presenting a poster at the third meeting of the European society
for Evolutionary Developmental biology (EED) in Paris from July 6-9, 2010.
Research Assistant Neus Martínez-Abadías will attend the third conference of the European Society for Evolutionary and Developmental Biology (EED) that will take place in Paris (France) from 6 to 9 July. Neus will present a poster about the correspondence of developmentally determined craniofacial variation in humans and mice. This work has been done in collaboration with researchers from the University of Calgary, University of Vienna, Stockholms Universitet and Universitat de Barcelona, under the supervision of Dr. Joan Richtsmeier and Dr. Benedikt Hallgrímsson.
Congratulations to graduate alumna Heather Norton (Ph.D. 2005) on her acceptance of a tenure-track assistant professor appointment at the University of Cincinnati Department of Anthropology, part of the McMicken College of Arts and Sciences Molecular Marker Initiative. She will be starting her new position in the fall. Congratulations Heather!
Yann
Heuzé1
1Department of Anthropology, The Pennsylvania State University, PA, USA.
3St. John's Mercy Children's Hospital, St Louis MO, USA
4Washington University School of Medicine, Saint Louis MO, USA
5Department of Neurological Surgery, University of California Davis, Sacramento
CA, USA
Premature closure of the sagittal suture
occurs as an isolated (nonsyndromic) birth defect, or as a syndromic anomaly in
combination with other congenital dysmorphologies. The genetic causes of
sagittal nonsyndromic craniosynostosis (NSC) remain unknown. Though variation
of the dysmorphic (scaphocephaly) skull shape of sagittal NSC cases has been
acknowledged, this variation has not been quantitatively studied in 3D. We have
analyzed the computed tomography skull images of 43 infants (aged from 0.9 to 9
months) with sagittal NSC using anatomical landmarks and semilandmarks to
quantify and characterize the within-sample phenotypic variation. Suture
closure patterns were defined by dividing the sagittal suture into three
sections (anterior, central, posterior) and coding each section as
"closed" or "fused". Principal components analysis of the
Procrustes shape coordinates representing skull shape of 43 cases of NSC did
not separate individuals by sex, chronological age, or dental stages of
deciduous maxillary first molar. However, analysis of suture closure pattern
allowed separation of these data. The central section of the sagittal suture
appears to be the first to fuse. Then, at least two different developmental
paths towards complete fusion of the sagittal suture exist; either the anterior
section or the posterior section is the second to fuse. Results indicate that
according to the sequence of sagittal suture closure patterns, different
craniofacial complex shapes are observed. The relationship between craniofacial
shape and suture closure indicates not only which suture fused prematurely (in
our case the sagittal suture), but also the pattern in which the suture closes.
Whether these patterns indicate differences in aetiology cannot be determined
with our data and requires analysis of longitudinal data, most appropriately of
animal models where prenatal conditions can be monitored.
Graduate
student John Starbuck is currently attending the 15th Annual Summer
Institute
of Statistical Genetics at the University of Washington from June 14-23,
2010. John
was fortunate enough to obtain funding from several sources to attend
this
event: Hill Fellowship Pre-Comprehensive Examination Award, Paul T.
Baker
Research Travel Fund in Human Biology and Anthropology Award, Research
and
Graduate Studies Office travel grant, Office of Graduate Educational
Equity
Program, and a Summer Institute of Statistical Genetics tuition
scholarship for
3 modules and travel through the University of Washington.
Graduate student John Starbuck will attend the 38th Annual National Down Syndrome Congress in Lake Buena Vista, FL from July 16-18, 2010. Using the 3dMD photographic system, John will collect 3D facial images of individuals with Down syndrome and their siblings to expand his dissertation dataset.
Chris Percival will be attending the Georgetown Summer Medical
Institute to take the Human Gross Anatomy course this summer.
Article information: Roseman, CC, KE Willmore, J Rogers, C Hildebolt, BE Sadler, JT Richtsmeier, JM Cheverud. 2010 Genetic and environmental contributions to variation in baboon cranial morphology, in press.
Look for cool baboon graphics from this project on the cover of the September issue of AJPA!
See http://www.hominid.psu.edu for additional information on this project.
Look for cool baboon graphics from this project on the cover of the September issue of AJPA!
See http://www.hominid.psu.edu for additional information on this project.
David Puts' paper "Beauty and the Beast: Mechanisms
of Sexual Selection in Humans" appeared in the May issue of Evolution and
Human Behavior. Follow this link to the article http://www.ehbonline.org/article/S1090-5138%2810%2900027-9/abstract
The Economist commented on the paper in their May 20 issue through their article "To Get the Girl - Fighting off Rivals May be Responsible for Masculine Traits". See link to this article
http://www.economist.com/science-technology/displaystory.cfm?story_id=16160490
Dr. Puts replies to the comments received by the publication in the May 24 issue of The Economist. See link below for his comments.
http://www.economist.com/user/David_Puts/comments
Penn State Live also reported on the paper in their May 13 issue. See link below:
Alumni Abby Bigham and Jason DeLeon (both 2008 Ph.D. graduates) have accepted tenure-track positions in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor. Jason will begin his position next year and Abby
will begin after her post-doc is completed at the University of Washington.