Yorkshire Philosophical Society

Event Information

Modelling skull growth in evolution, health and disease: statistics and biomechanics of form

Prof Paul O’Higgins, Department of Anatomical and Human Sciences, Hull York Medical School

Recent advances in statistical methods for shape analysis and simulation of musculoskeletal function combine to offer a surprising new toolkit for virtual anatomical and physiological simulation. The tools lend themselves to comparative and developmental studies of how the jaws work and influence the growth of the skull. This has relevance to understanding skull evolution and how it functions in health and disease. More widely these approaches could impact on how we assess form-function relationships in evolutionary biology and offer novel ways of planning mechanically competent surgical interventions.

Report
This was a virtuoso demonstration of the potential of modern anatomical research: how detailed measurement of skulls is coupled with sophisticated computer graphics to create and compare virtual skulls in the computer. With the addition of virtual muscles, movement, stresses and strains can be evaluated in ways impossible in a real skull.
This is more or less how engineers design bridges. What skulls can do – and bridges can’t – is to remodel themselves to adapt to mechanical stresses and strains. Bone is a complex tissue: some cells act as a strain gauge, signalling to other cells to deposit or withdraw strengthening mineral to match the distribution of forces within the bone as a whole.
The virtual skull model becomes a powerful tool used – for example – to investigate skull growth, to forecast how a growing skull will respond to reconstructive surgery, and to understand how degenerative diseases such as osteoporosis develop, and how the differences between males and females come about.