I am a biological anthropologist with a primary research interest in palaeoanthropology. I study the evolution of developmental patterns. My aim is to understand what makes us human by comparing our own species with our closest living and fossil relatives. As fossils are usually found broken into many pieces, and only partially complete, a central topic of my work is the virtual reconstruction of fossils using computed tomographic scans. I am a specialist for fossil reconstruction, and the statistical analysis of shape — a set of methods called «geometric morphometrics».

My publications explore different aspects of ontogenetic and phylogenetic shape changes — in particular the evolution and development of the brain and the imprint it leaves in the bony braincase. Alteration of endocranial shape in the hominin lineage is likely to reflect evolutionary changes in the organisation of structures of the human brain. However, brain tissue doesn’t fossilize, so the underlying biology has remained elusive. My research addresses this challenging question through an interdisciplinary approach that brings together analysis of fossil skulls, ancient genomes, brain imaging and gene expression.