Research Project

 

For her PhD project, Flora is working on the functional morphology of modern human and Neanderthal mandibles. The main aim of her study is to understand to what degree biomechanical factors influence the postnatal growth of the human mandible. The basis for this question is the fact that bone is able to adapt to mechanical loading by resorption or deposition during ontogeny. The study will use 3D finite element modelling (FEM) based on CT-scans of adult and juvenile mandibles. With FEM it is possible to load a virtual model of a bone and observe the resulting distribution of stresses and strains in the bone. These maps of low and high stress and strain areas can then be used to make predictions about the growth of the bone, which can be tested by comparisons with the real specimens.                           

 

This research project is supervised by Prof. Paul O’Higgins of the Functional Morphology and Evolution Research Unit (FME) of the Hull York Medical School. It is conducted in close cooperation with the Centre for Medical Engineering and Technology (CMET) of the University of Hull as well as with Dr. Ulrich Witzel of the Ruhr-University Bochum, Germany. A major part of the CT-data is provided by the online platform NESPOS.

 

                                                                                                               

Research Interests

 

•       application of computed tomography and virtual 3D reconstruction in palaeoanthropology and prehistoric anthropology

•       endo- and intracranial variation in modern humans and fossil hominins

•       ontogenetic changes in the human cranium and mandible

•       functional morphology of the human masticatory apparatus

•       application of finite element modelling in anthropology