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A 365-million-year-old
fossil reveals how animals evolved to
walk on land. Featured on the cover of
the April 2, 2004, issue of Science,
this arm bone bridges the evolutionary
gap between the fins of fish and the limbs
of amphibians. |
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“What
does it mean to be human?”
Paleontologists at the University
of Chicago are searching African deserts, Arctic mountains,
and continental landscapes for clues to this fundamental
question. They believe the answers are rooted in dinosaurs,
amphibians, and fish, and their far-reaching expeditions
to unearth fossils can help us understand how the
human body is built.
Chicago’s unique structure
enables these experts to draw inspiration and direct
feedback from their medical colleagues. It’s
an exciting opportunity that no museum or other university
can provide, with multiple scientific disciplines
intersecting to uncover critical links among evolution,
the complex genes of humans, and our body features
and functions.
This multidisciplinary approach
is yielding unparalleled results and shedding new
light on human biology, with direct implications for
modern medical science. Philanthropy can anchor Chicago’s
program with the resources worthy of its results and
put the answers to humanity’s most-pondered
questions within reach.
An ability to attract the field’s
most prominent experts and promising graduate students
has earned the paleontology program an international
reputation for cutting-edge research. Chicago faculty
members are known for the kinds of discoveries that
cause the global community of evolution scholars to
rethink commonly held beliefs.
For example, Neil Shubin and Michael
Coates’s recent studies of fossilized fish and
amphibians have altered views on a fundamental evolutionary
scenario concerning limbs. Challenging the dominant
belief that fish developed the precursors to arms
and legs so that they could walk on land, Shubin and
Coates demonstrated that limb-like features actually
evolved while fish were still living in water, to
help the fish adapt to shallow, fresh-water ecosystems.
Shubin and Coates identified the genes responsible
and pinpointed the time of this evolutionary change.
It turns out that these same genes
control human limb and digit development – an
insight that paves the way for better understanding
and potential prevention of limb-related birth defects.
Paleontologist Paul Sereno pursues
evolution on the macro scale, in part by working to
reconstruct the dinosaur family tree. Graduate students
gain valuable field experience and work side by side
with Sereno during his expeditions. These trips have
yielded landmark discoveries and created an enormous
fossil collection that includes the world’s
oldest dinosaurs. By pursuing explanations for the
difference in evolutionary speed and scope between
dinosaurs and their mammal successors, Sereno has
generated the first global look at dinosaur evolution.
Evolutionary biologist Victoria
Prince brings the study of past life forms back to
the present as she looks at zebrafish genetics to
gain insights into human biology. Her work with doctoral
candidate David Stafford has isolated a molecule that
propelled early development of the insulin-producing
part of a zebrafish’s pancreas. The same mechanism
was found in mice, indicating that the process works
similarly in mammals, and thus in humans. This discovery
holds promise for treating diabetes through laboratory
production of insulin-making cells that could be transplanted
into patients.
To capitalize on a unique environment
and encourage exploration of our human origins and
development, Chicago is seeking endowment funding
to support, attract, and sustain exceptional
leaders, train the next generation of field scientists,
and perpetuate funding for new discovery expeditions.
- Endowed professorships can recognize and retain
outstanding faculty and add an exceptional leader
in the field of human origins, evolution, and behavior.
Extending Chicago’s multidisciplinary approach
to the biology of humans and mammals will contribute
substantially to the understanding of the ways in
which humans evolve, behave, and grow.
- Studentships competitively attract the most promising
graduate students to collaborate with Chicago’s
leaders in the paleontology field. Not only do the
students holding these endowed positions advance
their own training, but their presence and diverse
perspectives promote the pursuit of new questions
and novel approaches that strengthen the department
overall.
- Support for expeditions to investigate the origins
of our ancestors – be they dinosaurs, amphibians,
or early humans – will enable the University
of Chicago to continue its innovative and fruitful
fieldwork. Such expeditions provide critical connections
to advance evolutionary understanding.
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