EXPERIENCE

C-CLEAR NERC BIOLOGICAL ANTHROPOLOGY RESEARCH GRANT

'How did the masticatory system evolve? Investigating teeth and bone microstructure in extant and fossil apes through X-ray synchrotron microtomography'. Teeth and bony structures that support them are key sources of evolutionary information about taxonomy, growth rates, diet and health. Yet, new technologies, such as synchrotron radiography, are revealing a whole new dimension of information by providing micron-level detail on internal and external structures that throw new light on patterns of diversity and processes of diversification. This research focuses on the generation of a large comparative dataset of synchrotron X-rays of fossil and contemporary African apes, including hominins, building on the collaboration with the new Diamond Light Source in the United Kingdom and with the National Museums of Kenya, as well as develop new protocols of data capture and analysis. Through these, the research aims to establish the diversity in growth rates of different elements of the masticatory system of apes, describe the diversity observed in internal dental structures of taxonomic and biological relevance, provide age-at-death estimates of immature specimens that will greatly enhance our understanding of the evolution of hominid life-histories, sexual dimorphism and the processes involved in remodelling of masticatory features.