Faculty

Balanoff Lab

Assistant Professor & Fundamentals of Human Anatomy Course Director

Amy Balanoff, PhD

Research focus:

  • Phylogenetic Relationships of Non-avian Dinosaurs
  • Structural and Functional Evolution of the Vertebrate Central Nervous System
  • Behavioral Imaging of Bird Brains

E-mail: [email protected]

Smaers JB, Rothman RS, Hudson D, Balanoff A, et al. 2021. The evolution of mammalian brain size. Science Advances 7:eabe2101.

 

Choiniere J, Neenan JM, Schmitz L, Ford DP, Chapelle KEJ, Balanoff AM, et al. 2021. Specialized nocturnal sensory adaptations in alvarezsauroid dinosaurs. Science 372:610-613.

 

Watanabe A, Balanoff AM, P.M. Gignac, M.E.L. Gold, M.A. Norell. 2021. Novel neuroanatomical integration and scaling define avian brain shape evolution and development. eLife 10: e68809. DOI: 10.7554/eLife.68809

 

Ksepka DT, Early CM, Dzikiewicz K, Balanoff AM. 2023. Osteology and neuroanatomy of a Miocene phasianid (Aves: Galliformes) from the Miocene of Nebraska. Journal of Paleontology 97:223-242.

 

Cerio DG, LLera Martin CJ, Hogan AVC, Balanoff AM, Watanabe A, Bever GS. Early View. Differential growth of the adductor muscles, eyeball, and brain in the chick Gallus gallus with comments on the fossil record of stem-group birds. Journal of Morphology.

Bever Lab

Associate Professor & Master of Anatomy Education Program Director

Gabriel Bever, PhD

Research focus:

  • Evolution of variability
  • Evolution / development of vertebrate skeleton
  • Origin of the major tetrapod crown clades
  • Fossils and molecules in evolutionary theory

E-mail: [email protected]

Lyson, T.R., T.M. Scheyer, B.Rubidge, K. de Queiroz, E.R. Schachner, R. Smith, J. Botha-Brink, and G.S. Bever. (2016) Fossorial origin of the turtle shell. Current Biology 26: 1887–1894. DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2016.05.020

 

Bhullar, B.-A.S., Hanson, M., Fabbri, M., Pritchard, A., Bever, G.S., Hoffman, E. (2016) How to make a bird skull: major transitions in the evolution of the avian cranium. Integrative and Comparative Biology 56: 389-403. DOI: 10.1093/icb/icw069

 

Bever, G.S., T.R. Lyson, D.J. Field, B.-A.S. Bhullar. (2016). The amniote temporal roof and the diapsid origin of the turtle skull. Zoology.DOI:10.1016/j.zool.2016.04.005

Cooke Lab

Associate Professor & SFM- Human Anatomy Course Director

Siobhán Cooke, PhD

Research Focus:

  • Dental functional morphology
  • Masticatory biomechanics
  • Platyrrhine evolution
  • Caribbean extinction
  • Three dimensional geometric morphometrics
  • Caribbean and Neotropical mammalian evolution and biogeography

E-mail: [email protected]

Halenar, L.B., Cooke, S.B., Rosenberger, A.L., and Rímoli, R. (2017) New cranium of the endemic Caribbean platyrrhine, Antillothrix bernensis, from La Altagracia Province, Dominican Republic. Journal of Human Evolution 106: 133-153. DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2017.02.002

 

Tallman, M. and Cooke, S.B. (2016) New endemic platyrrhine humerus from Haiti and the evolution of the Greater Antillean platyrrhines. Journal of Human Evolution 91: 144-166. DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2015.10.010

 

Cooke, S.B., Terhune, C.E. (2015) Form, function, and geometric morphometrics. The Anatomical Record 298: 5-28. DOI: 10.1002/ar.23065

Fabbri Lab

Assistant Professor

Matteo Fabbri, PhD

Research Focus:

  • Systematics and evolution
  • Major ecological transitions: water-to-land, land-to-water
  • How developmental pathways inform on evolutionary transitions
  • Relationship between genotype and phenotype

E-mail: [email protected]

Fabbri M, Mondiardino N, Pritchard A, Hanson M, Hoffman E, Bever GS, Balanoff A, Morris ZS, Field D, Comacho J, Rowe T, Norell MA, Smith R, Abhzanov A, Bhullar BAS. The skull roof tracks the brain during the evolution and development of reptiles including birds. Nature Ecology & Evolution 2017; 1:1543 

Norell MA, Wiemann J, Fabbri M, Yu C, Marsicano CA, Varricchio D, Pol D, Zelenitsky D. The first dinosaur egg was soft. Nature 2020; 583:406-410 

Fabbri M, Navalon G, Benson RJB, Pol D, O’Connor J, Bhullar BAS, Erickson GM, Norell MA, Orkney A, Lamanna MC, Zouhri S, Becker J, Emke A, Dal Sasso C, Bindellini G, Maganuco S, Auditore M, Ibrahim I. (2022) Subaqueous foraging among carnivorous dinosaurs. Nature 2022; 603:852-857 

Dutel H, Fabbri M. Fish fossil unfolds clues to vertebrate brain evolution. Nature 2023; 614:422-423 

Ravosa Lab

Professor & Director

Matthew J. Ravosa, PhD

Research focus:

  • Experimental biology
  • Mechanobiology
  • Skull & feeding apparatus
  • Musculoskeletal systems

E-mail: [email protected]

Mitchell, D.R., Wroe, S., Ravosa, M.J. & Menegaz, R.A. (2021) More challenging diets sustain feeding performance: Applications towards captive rearing of wildlife. Integrative Organismal Biology 3:obab030. (cover image) 

 

Kraatz, D., Belabbas, R., Fostowicz-Frelik, Ł., Ge, D.-Y., Kuznetsov, A.N., Lang, M., Lopez-Torres, S., Racicot, R.A., Ravosa, M.J., Sharp, A.C., Sherratt, E., Silcox, M.T., Słowiak, J., Winker, A.J. & Ruf, I. (2021) Lagomorpha as a model organism. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution: Phylogenetics, Phylogenomics, and Systematics 9:ar636402.

 

Nett, E.M., Jaglowski, B., Ravosa, L.J., Ravosa, D.D. & Ravosa, M.J. (2021) Mechanical properties of food and masticatory behavior in llamas, Llama glama. Journal of Mammalogy 102:1375-1389.

Sylvester Lab

Associate Professor & Graduate Program Director

Adam D. Sylvester, PhD

Research focus:

  • Early hominin, human and primate locomotion
  • Functional anatomy of the postcranial skeleton
  • Statistical analysis of biological shape
  • Bone structure and microstructure

E-mail: [email protected]

Sylvester, A.D. and Terhune, C.E. (2017). Trabecular mapping: Leveraging geometric morphometrics for analyses of trabecular structure. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 163:553-569. DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.23231

 

Auerbach, B.M., Gooding, A.F., Shaw, C.N., and Sylvester, A.D. (2017). The relative position of the human fibula to the tibia influences cross‐sectional properties of the tibia. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 163:148-157. DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.23196

 

Sylvester AD. (2013). A geometric morphometric analysis of the hominid medial tibial condyle. The Anatomical Record 296:1518-1525. DOI: 10.1002/ar.22762

Emeritus Faculty

Professor Emeritus

Ken Rose, PhD

Research focus:

  • Early Tertiary mammalian functional anatomy
  • Patterns of evolution in mammalian functional anatomy
  • Faunal succession and diversity
  • The Eocene of Wyoming

E-mail: [email protected]

Ruf, I., V. Volpato, K.D. Rose, G. Billet, C. de Muizon, and T. Lehmann. (2016) Digital reconstruction of the inner ear of Leptictidium auderiense (Leptictida, Mammalia) reveals new insight into leptictidan locomotion. Paläontologische Zeitschrift 90(1): 153-171. DOI: (View from website)

 

Dunn, R.H., K.D. Rose, R.S. Rana, K. Kumar, A. Sahni, T. Smith. (2016) New euprimate postcrania from the early Eocene of Gujarat, India, and the strepsirrhine-haplorhine divergence. J. Human Evol. 99: 25-51. DOI: (view from website)

Professor Emeritus

Chris Ruff, PhD

Research focus:

  • Biomechanics and primate locomotion
  • Evolution of the hominoid postcranium
  • Skeletal growth and development
  • Skeletal remodeling, behavioral reconstruction

E-mail: [email protected]

Ruff, C. B., Sylvester, A. D., Rahmawati, N. T., Suriyanto, R., Storm, P., Aubert, M., Joannes-Boyau, R., Berghuis, H., Pop, E., Batenburg, K. J., Coban, S. B., Kostenko, A., Noerwidi, S., Renema, W., Adhityatama, S., & Joordens, J. C. (2022) Two Late Pleistocene human femora from Trinil, Indonesia: Implications for body size and behavior in Southeast Asia. J. Hum. Evol. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhevol.2022.103252

 

Ruff, C.B., Junno, J.-A., Burgess, M.L., Canington, S.L., Harper, C., Mudakikwa, A., and McFarlin, S.M. (2022) Body proportions and environmental adaptation in gorillas. Am. J. Biol. Anthropol. 177: 501-529. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.24443

 

Ruff, C.B., Wunderlich,  R.E., Hatala, K.G., Tuttle, R.H., Hilton, C.E., D’Août , K., Webb, D.M., Hallgrímsson, B., Musiba, C., and Baksh, M. (2021) Body mass estimation from footprint size in hominins. J. Hum. Evol. 156: 102997. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhevol.2021.102997

Professor Emeritus

David Weishampel, PhD

Research focus:

  • Dinosaur paleobiology
  • Late Cretaceous island biogeography
  • Coevolution of vertebrates and plants
  • History of paleontology and evolutionary biology

E-mail: [email protected]

Osi, A., Prondvai, E., Butler, R., and Weishampel, D. B. 2012. Phylogeny, histology and inferred body size evolution in a new rhabdodontid dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous of Hungary. PLoS ONE 7(9): e44318. (view from PLoS ONE page).

 

Weishampel, D. B. and Jianu, C. M. 2013. Franz Baron Nopcsa: a man out of time. Foreword to Weishampel & Kerscher. Historical Biology 25(4): 391-544. (view from Taylor & Francis).

 

Weishampel, D. B. and Reif, W. E. 2013. An untimely nexus of German biomechanics, ornithology, and evolutionary biology: Dominik von Kripp and his functional morphology studies. Historical Biology 25(2): 261-281. (view from Taylor and Francis).

Joint & Adjunct Faculty

Assistant Professor

Justus Kebschull, PhD

Assistant Professor, department of biomedical engineering, johns hopkins University

Research focus:

Brain circuit evolution
Comparative connectomics & transcriptomics
Viral engineering
Neuro tool development

E-mail: [email protected]

Website: https://www.kebschull-lab.org/ 

Professor

Donna Magid, MD

Professor of Diagnostic Radiology in the Russell H. Morgan Department of Radiology and Radiological Science; Professor of Orthopedic Surgery; secondary appointment in the Center for Functional Anatomy and Evolution, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine

Research focus:

Radiology of the pelvis, acetabulum, lower extremity
Skeletal trauma, diabetic foot
Teaching/mentoring medical students and residents
Veterinary radiology

E-mail: [email protected]

assistant Professor

Aja Lans, PhD

assistant professor, department of anthropology, johns hopkins university

Research focus:

Archaeology of the African diaspora
Bioarchaeology
Black feminist theory

E-mail: [email protected]

associate Professor

Amanda Lauer, PhD

associate professor, department of otolaryngology-head and neck surgery and neuroscience, johns hopkins university

Research focus:

Systems, cognitive and computational neuroscience
Neurobiology of disease
Neural circuits, ensembles and connectomes

E-mail: [email protected]

Website: https://www.lauerlab.com/

Professor

G. William Wong, PhD

professor, department of physiology, johns hopkins university

Research focus:

Systems physiology
Biochemical and metabolic physiology
Discovery of novel hormones

Comparative physiology

Mitochondrial respiration atlas

Transgenic, knockout, and aneuploid  mouse models

E-mail: [email protected]

Website: https://physiology.bs.jhmi.edu/people/g-william-wong-ph-d/

Assistant Professor

Ashley Kiemen, PhD

assistant professor, department of pathology, johns hopkins university

Research focus:

Microanatomy of pancreatic cancer
CODA: quantitative 3D reconstruction of large tissues
Spatial mapping
Image processing and deep learning algorithms

E-mail: [email protected]

Website: https://labs.pathology.jhu.edu/kiemen/ 

Assistant Professor

Christopher Krupenye, PhD

assistant professor, department of psychological & brain sciences, johns hopkins university

Research focus:

Comparative cognition – especially theory of mind
Social and physical knowledge
Mental time travel-in humans, nonhuman apes, and dogs

E-mail: [email protected]

Website: social-cognitive-origins.com

 

 

Associate Professor

Chen Li, PhD

associate professor, department of mechanical engineering, johns hopkins university

Research focus:

Terradynamics
Locomotion

Biorobotics

Robophysics

Comparative biomechanics

Website: https://li.me.jhu.edu/

Assistant Professor

Jasmina Wiemann, PhD

assistant professor, department of earth & planetary sciences, johns hopkins university

Research focus:

Biomoleule and biosignature fossilization

Time-integrative molecular biosignatures

Molecular ecosystems across the solar system

Mineral skeletons

 

E-mail: [email protected]

Website: https://www.jasminawiemann.com/