An exciting update on the human joint side – we found that lateral patellar tracking and malalignment are correlated with progressive cartilage damage, and that the 3D metrics we've been developing to describe PF morphology can be used to quantify the risk. journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

The GRFP lives!! (due end of October) www.nsf.gov/funding/oppo...

Come and be our new Chair of Biology at @gtsciences.bsky.social! We are growing an incredibly exciting ecology and evolution group here at GT and would love a visionary eco-evo minded person at the helm to help us do that. Please spread the word! biosciences.gatech.edu/chair-search

I'm recruiting a PhD student to join the lab at @gtsciences.bsky.social in Fall 2026! Broad taxonomic and topical freedom under the umbrella of vertebrate joint form and function. Information here: www.manafzadeh.com – please share 🦴🩻

I'm recruiting a PhD student to join the lab at @gtsciences.bsky.social in Fall 2026! Broad taxonomic and topical freedom under the umbrella of vertebrate joint form and function. Information here: www.manafzadeh.com – please share 🦴🩻

New Comparative Anatomy Textbook! Completely free to read and open access! doi.org/10.59319/YHF...

✨Some news✨: after finishing my postdoc, I’ll be starting my lab as an Assistant Professor at Georgia Tech. Join us in Atlanta to study how joints work and where they come from!

Our paper on entry point-transition point angle elevation in patellofemoral instability patients, led by PhD student Johannes Sieberer and featuring his awesome Python/C# 3D curvature visualization tool (zenodo.org/records/1121...), is out now in OJSM: doi.org/10.1177/2325...

✨Some news✨: after finishing my postdoc, I’ll be starting my lab as an Assistant Professor at Georgia Tech. Join us in Atlanta to study how joints work and where they come from!

Great writeup by @caleb-m-gordon.bsky.social! 🐢

A nice conceptual summary of what we’ve learned so far in the Fulkerson group about the importance of studying kneecaps in 3D, led by med student Nancy Park (who just matched ortho at Duke — congrats, Nancy!!), is out today in Sports Medicine and Arthroscopy Review: journals.lww.com/sportsmedart...

Very much looking forward to this symposium (even though I'll be Zooming in while everyone's in Bordeaux). Thanks to @hugodutel.bsky.social for the invitation!

🗓️ Save the date! 26-28 May 2025 | Université de Bordeaux, France. Symposium and workshop : Biomechanical simulation techniques in evolutionary morphology and biomedical sciences. More info and registration: www.eventbrite.fr/e/1263754958...

Our latest Fulkerson group paper, led by student J. Sieberer, is out in The Knee (my favorite journal name yet). We create & test an AI-driven workflow to automatically calculate patellar tilt in 3-D, facilitating clinical diagnosis of patellar instability. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

We are recruiting trainees for the Integrative Movement Sciences Summer Institute. Students will gain research experience in dynamic muscular control of movement across organizational scales from molecular mechanisms to whole-body movement in complex environments. Learn more: tinyurl.com/5n7w6pey

I'm the guest editor on this special issue on TBI. Awesome work from the Dean lab 🧪 💀

Our paper led by Mike Schindler is out #OA in @anatrecord.bsky.social. We explore how the craniofacial hinge joint balances mobility & stability in helmeted hornbills, birds w/ high-impact head-butting behavior. Thanks to Mason Dean for inviting me to join the fun! tinyurl.com/595v6dzz

So proud of Dr. @caleb-m-gordon.bsky.social, PhD for his successful dissertation defense yesterday. Listening to the way Caleb talks about his research reminds us all of why we got into this business to begin with. Congratulations, Dr. Gordon 🐬🦖

Finally took a trip on the ferry to hang out with the anatomy crew down at Stony Brook — thanks so much to Kimi Chapelle and Drew Moore for the invitation!!

Had a lovely time chatting with The Parrot Club of Connecticut about avian joints from beaks to toes last night 🦜🦴

So excited for you, @caleb-m-gordon.bsky.social!! Can't wait! 🦎🌊

Hey BlueSky! I’ll be defending my PhD dissertation on Monday, Feb 24 from 1–2pm US ET. Message me for Zoom info if you’re interested!

Fun to see our recent work on the landing page for Research at Yale today!

“If the freeze is not stopped, I might lose my house." Some NSF-funded postdocs are having trouble paying rent and credit card bills because their salaries were paused this week, even though the federal funding freeze memo was rescinded. www.statnews.com/2025/01/30/t...

Very pleased to have been invited to crash the muscle-tendon party in Finland this summer – will be speaking on 24 July and subjecting everyone to a side of #joints. Come join us!

10 yrs ago (oof), a real grown-up scientist™️ (Sarah Werning) came to my first talk and made me feel like I could make it in science. I still haven't decided whether to forgive her. It's fun/weird to be back at #SICB2025 a whole decade later. Catch my talk tomorrow (Saturday) @ 2:45pm.

Shab-e Yalda Mobarak! || Happy Solstice! 🍉❄️ شب یلدا مبارک

Aw, what a lovely start to my Friday. Thanks so much, @stevebrusatte.bsky.social! ☺️

A fun collaborative paper out in Nature on RAVEN: a bird-inspired robot that uses it’s legs to propel flight take off. An example of how robots can test ideas about integrated function in animals. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Are you interested in learning about how engineering and physics can be applied to study the motions of #plants, #invertebrates, and #animals? Here's a non-exhaustive list of Comparative Biomechanists to get started! 🦋 🐟 🦎 🌿 🧪 go.bsky.app/HvHFgvB Apologies for any that I may have been missed.

Incredibly cool work by @kevinhatala.bsky.social et al.!! 👣

Excited to share our latest paper, new in Science! www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Happy #fossilfriday! Hind limb skeleton of an alvarezsaurid dinosaur, Jaculinykus! This dinosaur shows a great fibular reduction. Fibular reduction evolved convergently along lineage towards living birds and could allow modification of knee mobility, revealed by this week’s paper!

That video is hypnotic, tbh. 🧪

So the tiny, pathetic toothpick fibula bone in birds *does* have a purpose! Amazing. Innovative and provocative work from @armanafzadeh.bsky.social & colleagues here!

Thrilled to share: out in @natureportfolio.bsky.social (!) just in time for Thanksgiving, the dinosaurian history of how your turkey does the twist. Fibular reduction enabled mid-drumstick mobility, unlocking extreme knee long-axis rotation in theropods 🍗🦖🧵 www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-08251-w

Our lesson plan from the Resources for Inclusive Evolution Education working group is now online! Collab w/ US, UK, Pakistan, Nigeria. If you want to lead a classroom discussion about genotype-phenotype associations + their intersection w/ societal issues: qubeshub.org/publications...

I couldn’t find a starter pack for POCs working in STEM, so I started one myself - my network here is still small and I didn’t want to assume how people identify, so please reply or DM me if you want to be added! go.bsky.app/BJkKQVR

soon 👀

Honored to have been selected to share my work at the University of Chicago Biological Sciences Division Rising Stars Symposium! Excited to watch what looks to be a great lineup of talks over the next two days.