Research Group on Valencian Anatomy

Description

The group's multidisciplinary research ranges from quantitative and radiological anatomy, together with medical imaging techniques applied to the identification of the anatomical bases of the pathology, to geometric morphometry. In terms of the anatomical bases of pathology, we specialise in the study of vertebral anatomical variants and their association with clinical symptoms (pain, neuropathies, dizziness, etc.) in both modern sapiens and extinct human species (Homo Neanderthalensis). Geometric morphometry has been used to investigate hominin craniofacial biology (morphological integration), with a special interest in the cranial base as an interface between the brain and the facial skeleton. A "systems model" of human evolutionary anatomy has been developed, which conceptually employs an organism-based perspective on craniofacial and postcranial variation in hominins.

The group has also focused in recent years on the form, function and integration of the respiratory apparatus, which is an anatomical system connecting the skull and postcranium, of the human organism, as well as on the relationship between thoracic form in osteogenesis imperfecta and respiratory function, and on variations in form and their association with pain at both the cervical and lumbar levels.

The group is also investigating the development of the trunk at the evolutionary level in both extinct hominins and modern sapiens. Members of the group are also specialising in the study of geometric shape and anatomical variants in fossil records of Homo Neanderthalensis, Homo Naledi and Australopithecus Sediba.

Goals CT

To identify anatomical risk factors associated with pathology in both modern sapiens and extinct hominins.
To obtain the morphological and functional integration of the respiratory apparatus by means of geometric morphometry in the genus Homo.
To identify the evolution of torso form and function in Australopithecus and Homo.
To determine the influence of the geometric shape of the spine on the appearance of lumbar and cervical pain.
To correlate thoracic geometric shape and lung function using 3D virtual models.
Identify ocular anatomical factors that predispose to ocular pathology.
To create anatomical virtual models to reproduce and identify bone pathologies and anatomical variants in both modern sapiens and extinct hominins.
To create anatomical virtual models of modern sapiens and extinct hominins for teaching and scientific dissemination.

Research lines

Quantitative ocular anatomy
Study of ocular quantitative anatomy in relation to pathologies such as dry eye, glaucoma, diabetes, ocular hypertension, corneal anaesthesia, etc.
The shape of pain
Study of the geometric shape of the lumbar spine and its relationship with chronic non-specific low back pain.
Anatomical variants of the spine
Identification of the anatomical variants of the spinal column that can lead to the appearance of clinical symptoms such as headache, dizziness, tinnitus, vertebrobasilar insufficiency syndrome, etc.
Anatomy and 3D geometric morphometry of the thorax of patients with osteogenesis imperfecta
Study of the anatomy and geometric morphometry of the thorax in patients with osteogenesis imperfecta and its relationship with pulmonary pathology.

Management