Heads, Jaws, and Muscles / Fascinating Life Sciences (PDF)

Janine Ziermann is an Assistant Professor at the Howard University College of Medicine in Washington, DC. She received her PhD in Germany studying the evolution and development of head muscles in larval amphibians. This was followed by a postdoc in the Netherlands and one in the USA to further study vertebrates. Her research focuses on the evolution and development of the cardiopharyngeal field, a field that gives rise to head, neck, and heart musculature. Additionally, she aims to use the knowledge from her research to understand the pathology of congenital defects, which often affect both head and heart structures. She won several awards, including the 'American Association of Anatomists (AAA) and the Keith and Marion Moore Young Anatomist's Publication Award' (YAPA). Furthermore, she single-authored or co-authored more than 30 papers in top journals such as Nature, Biological Reviews, books, book chapters, and commentaries.
Raul E.Diaz, Jr. is an Assistant Professor at Southeastern Louisiana University and a Research Associate at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County. He received his BS from the University of California at Berkeley and his MA from the University of Kansas where he studied frog skeletal development through metamorphosis. His PhD was completed through the University of Kansas Medical Center though his research was conducted at the Stowers Institute for Medical Research where he developed the veiled chameleon as a useful model for studying squamates reptile embryonic development. His research has meandered through his academic career from tropical field biology and systematics to anatomy and cell biology, development and genomics of reptiles and amphibians and now combines all these disciplines (as well as modern techniques in microscopy and imaging) to bridge the disciplines of comparative morphology, development and biomedical research.
Rui Diogo, Associate Professor at the Howard University College of Medicine, was one of the