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

我的研究的首要目标是了解复杂的高度集成的系统如何通过改变发育机制，特别是神经嵴衍生的脊椎动物头骨的发展。我们利用一个综合的和比较的进化发展的方法来了解骨骼的发展，涉及到结合胚胎学的理解与形态的进化理解的机制。这个提议的主要目标是了解发育过程如何使进化偏向于产生今天生活的脊椎动物的多样性。这项研究计划建立在我的研究团队迄今为止在理解脊椎动物眼睛的眼骨骼方面取得的重大进展的基础上。该骨骼系统由骨巩膜环和巩膜软骨元件组成。在数百万年的进化过程中，这些元素在几种脊椎动物中以不同的程度继发性丢失。巩膜由脊椎动物眼睛巩膜中的一系列骨板组成。我们的第一个目标是了解结膜乳头的发育模式，这是scratching发展所需的。我们的第二个目标是研究鱼类巩膜软骨的发育，而我们的第三个目标是探索眼骨骼的继发性损失。我们的方法结合了我们在鸡和鱼胚胎的分子生物学、细胞生物学、组织学、定量形态学和胚胎学操作方面的现有经验。我的研究一直处于进化发育领域的前沿。目前，世界上还没有其他研究者使用这种方法来研究脊椎动物眼骨骼的多样性。我们的研究将借鉴过去在发育生物学领域的贡献，包括结构（如毛发和盾甲）的图案化，基板形成和发育过程中的上皮-间充质相互作用。因此，它将为发育生物学的这些领域贡献新的知识。因此，这项研究计划有可能对广泛的社区（即进化-发育领域，古生物学领域，骨骼生物学领域和发育生物学领域）具有高度意义。这个研究项目很好地培养了本科生和研究生在evo-devo研究的令人兴奋的领域，重点是颅面骨骼。

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.