Skeletal development and evolution: towards understanding the developmental basis of the ocular skeleton

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The overarching goal of my research is to understand how complex highly integrated systems evolve via alterations in developmental mechanisms with specific focus on the neural crest derived vertebrate skull. We utilize an integrated and comparative evolutionary-developmental approach to understand the mechanisms underlying the development of the skeleton that involves combining an embryological understanding with an evolutionary understanding of morphology. The broad objective of this proposal is to understand how developmental processes have biased evolution to produce the diversity of vertebrates living today. This research proposal builds on the significant progress my research team has made to date in understanding the ocular skeleton of the vertebrate eye. This skeletal system consists of a bony sclerotic ring and a scleral cartilage element. These elements have been secondarily lost in several vertebrates to variable degrees over the course of millions of years of evolution. The sclerotic ring consists of a series of bony plates in the sclera of the vertebrate eye. Our first objective is to understand the developmental patterning of the conjunctival papillae, which are required for sclerotic ring development. Our second objective investigates scleral cartilage development in fish while our third objective explores the secondary loss of the ocular skeleton. Our approach combines our existing experience in molecular biology, cell biology, histology, quantitative morphometrics and embryological manipulations of chicken and fish embryos. My research continues to be at the forefront of this particular evo-devo field. At present no other researcher in the world uses this approach to investigate the diversity of the vertebrate ocular skeleton. Our research will draw on past contributions in the field of developmental biology with respect to patterning of structures (such as hairs, and scutes), placode formation, and epithelial-mesenchymal interactions during development. As such, it will contribute new knowledge to these areas of developmental biology. This research program thus has the potential to be highly significant to a broad community (i.e. the evo-devo field, the paleontological field, the skeletal biology field, and the developmental biology field). This research program lends itself well to train undergraduate and graduate students in the exciting field of evo-devo research, with a focus on the craniofacial skeleton.