Morphology of the foot
The human foot is unique in its adaptation to committed, terrestrial bipedalism. My research explores bone morphology of the foot among extant apes, humans and fossil hominins. This research is exploring how human ancestors moved, whether they walked in a similar way to humans today and whether they climbed trees. This research is conducted by the FOOTSTEP project and in collaboration with ERC Consolidator Grant New Human (PI: Prof. Matthew Skinner).
How behaviour shapes the skeleton
The way we behave during life impacts the internal morphology of our skeleton, both our overall activity levels, as well as specific behaviours such as running, climbing and swimming. I am interested in understanding how behaviour influences the morphology of the skeleton and which factors other than behaviour may contribute to its structure. My research explores differences between humans and other apes, as well as among diverse human groups.
Ontogeny of trabecular structure
During development the growing skeleton is adapting to changes in locomotion, increases in body size as well as calcium demands. Understanding how and why changes in the structure of the skeleton occur during growth allows us to better interpret the skeletal morphology of both adult and immature fossil hominins. My research has shown that apes differ from humans in how the internal trabecular structure of the skeleton changes during development.
