I am always looking for highly motivated student physicians to work with me on projects relating to primate paleobiology, human anatomical variation, and anatomical education. Projects listed below currently involve student collaborators on an annual recurring basis.

Interested students are invited to contact me via email: elocke@icom.edu

PRIMATE DENTAL TOPOGRAPHY PROJECT

Visual representations of three dental topographic variables, shown on a lower second molar of a Bornean orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus). A) Dirichlet Normal Energy (a measurement of curvature); B) Orientation Patch Count Rotated (a measure of complexity); C) Occlusal Relief (a measure of occlusal height).

Diet is “the single most important parameter underlying the behavioral and ecological differences among living primates” (Fleagle, 1999). Dental topographic methods provide an analytical toolkit for measuring the shape of tooth surfaces. These shape variables have been widely used to infer the dietary ecology of fossil primates based on comparison with tooth shape from living primates with known diets, as well as to explore how functional aspects of tooth shape are altered by dental wear over an animal’s lifespan.

Student physicians have participated in this research project through the ICOM Student Doctor Research Internship (ISDRI) program and through the ICOM Research Independent Study (RIS) Course. Student responsibilities include creating dental casts, 3D scanning, mesh processing, and data analysis. A call for student participants occurs annually in the Spring Semester.

ANATOMY RESEARCH PROGRAM

This 3-semester program allows student physicians to develop an independent project on human anatomical variation. This involves conducting a literature review, developing a study question, designing a data collection protocol, and analyzing and presenting the results at the annual ICOM Research Conference. Each year, I work with 2 - 3 students through the Anatomy Research Program. Prior projects that I have mentored are listed below. A call for rising OMS-II applicants occurs annually in the Spring Semester.

Previous Anatomy Research Program Student Projects

2024 - 2025

  • Heberden’s nodes and osteoarthritis of the distal interphalangeal joint (C. Jacobs)

  • Variation in musculocutaneous nerve insertion into the coracobrachialis muscle: implications for axillary plexus block (J. Pesa)

  • Investigating the rotator cuff tendon footprint in relation to sex and skeletal size (A. Rubis)

2023 - 2024

  • Enhancing endotracheal tube sizing: evaluating predictors of tracheal diameter (G. Echt)

  • Assessing effects of tooth loss on mandibular ramus height (K. Goodwin)

  • Antemortem tooth loss and the impact on hard palate shape in a cadaveric sample (J. Milburn)

2022 - 2023

  • Impact of varying degrees of tooth loss in the localization of the mandibular foramen (J. Lusk)

  • Antemortem tooth loss and temporomandibular joint pathology in a cadaveric sample (A. Sawzak)

RESEARCH INDEPENDENT STUDY COURSE MENTORSHIP

Student physicians with ideas for 1 - 2 semester projects that do not require funding are welcome to contact me about mentorship through the Research Independent Study Course. This course is available to OMS-I students in Spring Semester, rising OMS-II students in Summer, and OMS-II students in Fall & Spring Semesters.