CRUI: Timing amd 3-Dimensional Analysis of Musculoskeletal Development

这个项目是为本科院校的合作研究，涉及进化和发展生物学，数学和计算机科学。生物学中的一个基本问题是，形态上的变异是如何从一组密切相关的物种共有的一般模式中产生的。虽然有很多关于动物在胚胎发育过程中形状和大小变化的描述性细节，但我们缺乏对不规则生物形式的精确和定量描述。这种多学科的方法将利用新的成像技术和几何理论的最新进展来建立一些新的数学方程来描述复杂结构的形状是如何发展和演变的。两栖动物肌肉骨骼结构的大小和形状的量化将被用来比较发育过程中不同时期的特征，并比较进化相关群体的特征。该项目汇集了生物学和计算机科学领域的师生。研究结果将对解释发育事件的时间变化如何成为进化变化的一种机制具有重要意义。这项工作对发育和进化生物学有潜在的重大影响，并有望为本科生提供一种新的跨学科体验，让他们参与令人兴奋的研究。

This project is for Collaborative Research at Undergraduate Institutions, involving evolutionary and developmental biology, mathematics and computer sciences. One of the fundamental questions in biology is how variation in form arises from a general pattern common to a group of closely related species. Although a lot of descriptive detail is available about changes in shape and size of an animal during embryonic development, we lack precise and quantitative descriptions for irregular biological forms. This multidisciplinary approach will use new imaging technology ald recent advances in geometrical theory to establish some novel mathematical equations to characterize how the shape of a complex structure develops and evolves. The quantification of sizes and shapes of musculoskeletal structures in amphibians will be used to compare features at different times during development, and to compare features in evolutionarily related groups. The project brings together faculty and students from biology and computer science. Results will be important in interpreting how variation in timing of developmental events can be a mechanism for evolutionary change. This work has a potentially major impact on developmental and evolutionary biology, and promises a novel cross-disciplinary experience involving undergraduates in exciting research.