My lab researches the motor control and biomechanics of feeding system. My lab uses electromyography and fluoromicrometry to study feeding muscle function, high speed biplanar videofluoroscopy to study 3d tongue and jaw kinematics, and finite element modelling to study mandible mechanics. We study diverse taxa.
My lab is working on understanding how both the jaw and tongue are moved and controlled during oral behaviors such as drinking, chewing and swallowing.
Dr. Nicho Hatsopoulos and my lab use neural recording techniques to study the role of motor and sensory cortex in control of oral behaviors including chewing and swallowing. We are researching neural encoding of jaw and tongue movements, neuroplasticity associated with learning new oral skills, and, with Dr. Fritzie Arce-McShane, the role of different oral sensory pathways in control of jaw and tongue movement.
My lab and Dr. Zeray Alemseged are using finite-element models of primate jaws to study mandible design in humans, great apes, and fossil hominids.
Dr. Russell Reid in the Department of Surgery and my lab are working with Drs. Olga Panagiotopoulou in Australia and Felippe Prado in Brazil on bioengineering of human jaw function during distraction osteogenesis and fracture repair.
Tradeoffs between bite force and gape in Eulemur and Varecia.
Tradeoffs between bite force and gape in Eulemur and Varecia. J Morphol. 2024 May; 285(5):e21699.
PMID: 38715161
Ontogenetic changes in jaw leverage and skull shape in tufted and untufted capuchins.
Ontogenetic changes in jaw leverage and skull shape in tufted and untufted capuchins. J Morphol. 2024 May; 285(5):e21705.
PMID: 38704727
The impact of measurement technique and sampling on estimates of skeletal muscle fibre architecture.
The impact of measurement technique and sampling on estimates of skeletal muscle fibre architecture. Anat Rec (Hoboken). 2024 Feb 26.
PMID: 38406878
Dynamic finite element modelling of the macaque mandible during a complete mastication gape cycle.
Dynamic finite element modelling of the macaque mandible during a complete mastication gape cycle. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2023 12 04; 378(1891):20220549.
PMID: 37839457
Introduction: food processing and nutritional assimilation in animals.
Introduction: food processing and nutritional assimilation in animals. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2023 12 04; 378(1891):20220559.
PMID: 37839455
Head posture impacts mammalian hyoid position and suprahyoid muscle length: implication for swallowing biomechanics.
Head posture impacts mammalian hyoid position and suprahyoid muscle length: implication for swallowing biomechanics. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2023 12 04; 378(1891):20220552.
PMID: 37839446
Three-dimensional mandibular kinematics of mastication in the marsupial Didelphis virginiana.
Three-dimensional mandibular kinematics of mastication in the marsupial Didelphis virginiana. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2023 12 04; 378(1891):20220548.
PMID: 37839456
Gape drives regional variation in temporalis architectural dynamics in tufted capuchins.
Gape drives regional variation in temporalis architectural dynamics in tufted capuchins. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2023 12 04; 378(1891):20220550.
PMID: 37839440
Rhythmic chew cycles with distinct fast and slow phases are ancestral to gnathostomes.
Rhythmic chew cycles with distinct fast and slow phases are ancestral to gnathostomes. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2023 12 04; 378(1891):20220539.
PMID: 37839454
Multiple regions of sensorimotor cortex encode bite force and gape.
Multiple regions of sensorimotor cortex encode bite force and gape. Front Syst Neurosci. 2023; 17:1213279.
PMID: 37808467