Profile
Susan Chapman
Biological Sciences
Associate Professor
864-656-2328
Long Hall 340 [Office]
Educational Background
Ph.D., Developmental Neurobiology, Kings College London, 2002
B.Sc., Neuroscience, University College London, 1998
B.Sc., Science, Open University, 1999
Research Interests
EVOLUTION and DEVELOPMENT
This project combines paleontology and developmental biology to study bird evolution from avian dinosaurs to extant birds. Multiple skeletal adaptations separated birds from their avian dinosaur ancestors. We focus on the Cretaceous transition from long- to short-tailed birds and fusion events within the axial skeleton. Cretaceous short-tailed birds and modern avians share a truncated tail with the fusion of distal caudal vertebrae into a pygostyle (a bony rod that supports the tail fan feathers) and the synsacrum that stiffens the spine, a requirement for flight. These transitions were so advantageous that birds, arguably the most successful terrestrial vertebrates, have maintained the same configuration for the last 125 million years. We aim to understand axial skeletal development, morphogenesis and molecular mechanisms and correlate that information with the fossil record.
The axial skeleton is subject to normal and pathogenic processes; bone fracture healing and Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) are two examples of inflammation-driven fusion events. Degeneration of the intervertebral discs (IVDs) is required to fuse the pygostyle and synsacrum regions. Our RNAseq data has identified candidate immune signals. We are interested in the crossover between normal fusion, traumatic injury, and disease processes. We use chicken and mammalian model organisms to identify the mechanism governing morphogenesis during normal and disease states, thereby informing avian evolution, development, therapeutic and clinical approaches.
Courses Taught
Current
BIOL3000: Dinosaurs to Birds
BIOL2000: Biology in the News
BIOL4930: Senior Seminar
BIOL8070: Molecular Cell and Developmental Biology Reading Group
Selected Publications
Nonpathological inflammation drives the development of an avian flight adaptation. Sheheen, J.R.1, Rashid, D.J.1, Surya, K., Sanders, J.B., Huey, T., Horner, J.R. and Chapman, S.C. PNAS, 1 May 2023:120(19), e2219757120, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2219757120
Reshaping the Tree of Life: Ecological Implications of Evolution in the Anthropocene. Krista Capps, Susan Chapman, Keith Clay, Jonathan Fresnedo-Ramirez, Daniel L. Potts. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment. 15 November 2021 https://doi.org/10.1002/fee.2434
The long and the short of tails. Dana J. Rashid and Susan C. Chapman. Developmental Dynamics. Dev Dyn. 2021 Sep;250(9):1229-1235. . Epub 2021 Feb 16. PubMed PMID: 33548113. https://doi.org/10.1002/dvdy.311
Distal spinal nerve development and divergence of avian groups. Dana J. Rashid, Roger Bradley, Alida M. Bailleul, Kevin Surya, Holly Ballard, Ping Wu, Yun-Hsin (Becky) Wu, Cheng-Ming Chuong, Douglas B. Menke, Sergio G. Minchey, Ben Parrott, Samantha L. Bock, Christa Merzdorf, Emma Narotzky, Nathan Burke, John R. Horner and Susan C. Chapman. Sci Rep. 2020 Apr 14;10(1):6303. PMID: 32286419. https://doi:10.1038/s41598-020-63264-5
Discovery of genomic variations by whole-genome resequencing of the North American Araucana chicken. Rooksana E. Noorai, Vijay Shankar, Nowlan H. Freese, Christopher Gregorski, and Susan C. Chapman. 2019. PLoS ONE 14(12): e0225834. PMID: 31821332. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0225834
Memberships
Fellow of the Anatomical Society
Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology
American Association for the Advancement of Science
American Society for Cell Biology
Society for Developmental Biology
British Society for Developmental Biology
Outreach
For information on GFP Eggs, please email me directly.
