When Evolution Hurts

Being able to walk upright on two feet is a physical trait that distinguishes modern humans from our early ancestors. While the evolution of bipedalism has contributed to our success as a species, it has also limited the evolution of other features and increased our risk for certain diseases. Terence D. Capellini discusses the genetic research that is helping scientists better understand the relationship between bipedalism and our risk of developing knee osteoarthritis—a degenerative disease that afflicts at least 250 million people worldwide. By understanding the evolutionary history and genetics of this condition, preventive screenings and potential treatments may be developed.

Terence D. Capellini is Professor of Human Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University. He holds a PhD from the New York Consortium in Evolutionary Primatology (C.U.N.Y) working in the laboratory of Licia Selleri (Weill Cornell Medicine) and performed his post-doctoral research in the laboratory of David Kingsley (Stanford University). His interdisciplinary lab bridges functional genomics and genetics, developmental biology, medical genetics, and paleoanthropology. His lab currently focuses on how gene regulation shapes different bones of the skeleton, how interbreeding with Neandertals facilitated human skeletal adaptations, and most applicable, how alterations to gene regulation during human evolution have influenced the modern world-wide risk of joint-specific osteoarthritis.

Presented by the Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology, the Harvard Museum of Natural History, and the Harvard Museums of Science & Culture