DOCTOR OF PHYSICAL THERAPY DIVISION

Academic Appointments

Associate Professor

Doctor of Physical Therapy Division, Community and Family Medicine

Evolutionary Anthropology (formerly Biological Anthropology & Anatomy)

 

Education

University of Pittsburgh, Ph.D., 1992
Northwestern University, M.A., 1986
University of California, Berkley, B.A., 1983

 

Teaching Responsibilities

 

DPT Division responsibilities:

PT 301 Human Clinical Anatomy (Course Director)

Visit the New Human Fresh Tissue Lab! 

PT 302 Palpation (Course Director)

PT 322 Arthrological & Pathological Movement Science I (Course Director)

Visit the New State-of-the-Art Human Gross Anatomy Lab! 

PT 306 Professional Development Seminar (Participant)

PT 504 Teaching/Learning Elective (Director)

PT 508 Evidence-Based Practice Capstone Project

PT 511 Professional Development/Student Portfolio

 

Department of Physical & Occupational Therapy, DUHS: 

Clinical Teacher/Preceptor for the Duke Manual Physical Therapy Fellowship

 

School of Medicine teaching:

Block II  Normal Body and the Practice Course (School of Medicine) (Lecturer)

 

Department of Evolutionary Anthropology:

BAA 40 Next of Kin: Understanding the Great Apes (Lecturer)

BAA 280S Radiology and Pathophysiology (Laboratory instructor)

BAA First-year Graduate Tutorial (Lecturer):  African apes, Hominid Evolution

BAA 193-23 Undergraduate Independent Study for honors theses

Research

Research in the Taylor Laboratory uses comparative anatomical approaches to study craniofacial function and adaptation in humans and other primates.  Understanding the mechanisms that influence craniofacial form requires integrating knowledge of anatomy and physiology with genetics, development, and behavioral ecology.  The goal of research in the Taylor Laboratory is to determine how craniofacial form remodels and adapts. 

 

In collaboration with Fred Anapol and Christopher Vinyard, we are using tree-gouging and nongouging New World monkeys as a naturalistic model to test functional and adaptive hypotheses of jaw-muscle fiber architecture and feeding behavior.  In conjunction with Sam Ward and Carolyn Eng, we have modeled the muscle mechanics of the feeding apparatus in tree-gouging marmosets.  And in collaboration with Leonard White, we have extended this work to investigate whether peripheral feeding specializations are governed by specializations in the central nervous system.  These studies are yielding important insights into function and evolution of the neuromuscular primate masticatory system. 

 

To shed light on the genetic architecture underlying differences in morphology,

 we are currently investigating heritabilities of mandibular musculature and performance in an inbred mouse model.  In collaboration with Christopher Vinyard and Bret Payseur, we have shown that inbred strains of mice exhibit significant variation in masseter fiber length and physiologic cross-sectional area, indicating a significant genetic component to fiber architecture.  We have further shown that fiber length is positively correlated with maximum jaw opening in these inbred strains, further suggesting an important heritable component underlying maximum jaw opening. 

 

My work also focuses on the ecological bases of craniofacial divergence among the great apes to aid in reconstructing the ecological factors that influenced human evolution.  In collaboration with Carel van Schaik, we have demonstrated a linke between brain size, feeding behavior, and life history in orangutans.  In collaboration with Nate Dominy, Carel van Schaik, Erin Vogel, and Serge Wich, we are currently collecting data on feeding profiles and food material properties in Sumatran orangutans.  Our goals is to understand the influence of non-preferred, but essential (fallback) foods on island differences in craniofacial form, which may provide insight into the role of fallback foods in the evolution of human craniofacial form.

 

In collaboration with John van Aalst, we are currently investigating the influence of mandibular distraction osteogenesis on the soft tissue environment in a pig model.  Our aim is to characterize the factors that simultaneously favor bony regeneration and muscle accommodation with the longterm goal of applying our findings to a pediatric population to improve surgical outomes.  

 

Please visit the links below to read about the Taylor Lab in the news:

www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/10/061023192505.htm

http://science-community.sciam.com/blog-entry/Sciam-Observations/Hobbit-News-1/300004058

http://www.dukenews.duke.edu/2006/10/orangbrain.html

Selected Publications 

• Taylor AB. 2002.  Masticatory form and function in the African apes.  American Journal of Physical Anthropology 117:133-156.

 

• Taylor AB, Goldsmith ML (editors). 2003. Gorilla Biology: A Multidisciplinary Perspective. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

 

• Taylor AB. Groves CP. 2003.  Patterns of mandibular variation in Pan and Gorilla and implications for African ape taxonomy.  Journal of Human Evolution 44:529-561.

 

• Taylor AB.  2006.  Size and shape dimorphism in great ape mandibles and implications for fossil species recognition.  American Journal of Physical Anthropology 129:82-98.

 

• Taylor AB.  2006.  Feeding behavior, diet, and jaw morphology in orangutans and implications for the evolution of Pongo.  Journal of Human Evolution 4:377-393.

 

• Taylor AB, Jones KE, Kunwar R, Ravosa MJ.  2006.  Dietary consistency and plasticity of masseter fiber architecture in postweaning rabbits.  Anatomical Record Part A:  Discoveries in Molecular, Cellular, and Evolutionary Biology, 128:1105-1111.

 

• Taylor AB. van Schaik CP.  2007.  Variation in brain size and ecology in Pongo.  Journal of Human Evolution 52:59-71.

 

• Taylor AB, Vogel ER, Dominy N.  2008.  Masticatory biomechanics and food mechanical properties in large-bodied hominoids.  Journal of Human Evolution 55:604-616.

 

• Taylor AB, Eng CM, Anapol F, Vinyard CJ.  2009.  The functional correlates of jaw-muscle fiber architecture in tree-gouging and nongouging callitrichid monkeys.  American Journal of Physical Anthropolo. [Epub ahead of print] PMID: 19140215.

 

• Organ JM, Teaford MF, Taylor AB.  Functional correlates of fiber architecture of the lateral caudal musculature in prehensile and nonprehensile tails of the Platyrrhini (Primates) and Procyonidae (Carnivora).   Anatomical Record Part A:   Discoveries in Molecular, Cellular, and Evolutionary Biology, in press.
  

 

Awards and Honors

2008 Nominated, Master Clinician Educator Award, Duke University School of Medicine

 

1990 Andrew Mellon Predoctoral Fellowship

 

1989 Graduate Research Assistantship award  

 

1988 Graduate Research Assistantship award

 

1987 Teaching Assistantship award

 

 

FReD Publications