About

About

The Richtsmeier lab is located in the Department of Anthropology at the Pennsylvania State University where Dr. Richtsmeier is Distinguished Professor and a member of the faculty of graduate program in Molecular Cellular and Integrativeted BioSciences (MCIBS). Dr. Richtsmeier is a member of the faculty of the Collaboration for Craniofacial Development and Disorders at Johns Hopkins University.

The long-range goals of the laboratory include:

  1. Quantitative assessment of morphological change in biological organisms through ontogenetic and evolutionary time
  2. Determination of the developmental basis of differences in morphology
  3. Determination of the evolutionary genetic basis of these developmental patterns.

We  approach these goals through various quantitative studies of pre- and postnatal craniofacial growth patterns in nonhuman primates and comparative studies of craniofacial morphology and growth in humans affected by craniofacial anomalies and mouse models for these diseases. We have devised protocols for the collection and analysis of three dimensional data from biological organisms using various tools, especially imaging (computed tomography, micro computed tomography and magnetic resonance and magnetic resonance microscopy). We have invested a considerable amount of time developing methods that enable the analysis of three dimensional form and change in form using an approach invariant to coordinate systems. This work has been done in collaboration with Dr. Subhash Lele, University of Alberta. We are currently studying many mouse models in an effort to understand the genetic basis of craniofacial development in typically growing mice and those that have been constructed for the study of inherited craniofacial conditions. These projects are being done in collaboration with the laboratories of Dr. Roger Reeves at the Johns Hopkins University and Dr. Ethylin Wang Jabs , Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. For more information on our current research, visit the Publications page of this website.

You can find us in rooms 311 & 319 of the Carpenter Building.

Richtsmeier Lab Contact Information:

Richtsmeier Lab
Department of Anthropology
Penn State University
409 Carpenter Building
University Park, PA 16802