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Doctoral Candidate Department of Anthropology The Pennsylvania State University 409 Carpenter Building University Park, PA 16802
Phone: (814) 863-0032 Fax: (814) 863-1474 Email: samsholtis [at] psu [dot] edu |
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I am a graduate student in biological anthropology at Penn State University interested in developmental genetics, evolutionary-developmental biology (evo-devo), understanding the nature of the relationship between genes and traits (phenogenetics) and how this relationship influences evolution, the history and philosophy of biology, and bioethics. In particular I am interested in understanding how complex, repeated morphological traits such as teeth, hair, vertebrae or limbs are patterned. My research has focused on the genetic and developmental processes that pattern the dentition using the mouse as an experimental model organism for primate dental development. I hope to be able to use knowledge about dental development and patterning to understand both tooth evolution as seen in the hominid fossil record and the natural variation in teeth found within extant species. |
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Phenogenetics: genotypes, phenotypes, and evolution |
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Mapping Natural Dental Variation in Recombinant Inbred Mice |
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Transgenic overexpression of Bmp4 in teeth |
