Federica Landi
PhD student
Profile
Biography
September 2016- present: PhD student at the Centre for Anatomical and Human Sciences, The Hull York Medical School and Department of Archaeology, University of York
The PhD project focuses on the study of the hominin midface, from an evolutionary and ontogenetic perspective, using a geometric morphometric approach (thesis supervisor: Prof. Paul O’Higgins).
January 2016- July 2016: Fellowship - research collaborator with Sapienza University, Rome (Italy) and John Moores University, Liverpool (UK)
The research project focuses on living and fossil primate skeletal adaptation to locomotion. A second line of the project focused on skull asymmetry in captive chimpanzees. The project has been funded by the research funding program “Torno Subito” (Project supervisor: Dr. Isabelle De Groote.)
October 2013- December 2015: Master of Science in EcoBiology with Honours, University of Rome “Sapienza”
The master research focused on Geometric Morphometrics (GM) and its applications on primate skull variability, with a focus on the correlations between the morphology of the cranial base and different styles of locomotion in extant and fossil primates (Thesis Advisor: Prof. Giorgio Manzi).
The project involved getting access to the primate skull collection at the Museum of Anthropology “G. Sergi” (Rome) and CT-SCAN collections of primate bones coming from on-line archives of several international museums (Smithsonian, KUPRI, Morphosource).
October 2009- May 2013: Bachelor of Science in Natural Science with Honours, University of Rome “Sapienza”, Faculties of Math, Physics and Natural Science.
The project focused on “The phenomenon of island endemism during Late Pleistocene in Flores Island, Philippines” (Thesis Advisor: Prof. Raffaele Sardella).
Career
September 2016- present: Graduate Teaching Assistant (GTA) at the Hull York Medical School
Assistant in the anatomy teaching sessions, with the use of cadaveric prosections and plastic models.
January 2011- September 2015: Work experience as a guide at the WWF national park “Macchiagrande”, Fregene (RM), Italy
Workshops, laboratories and naturalistic guided tours for children and adults, in collaboration with “Programma Natura” S.R.L. association.
Research
Overview
My PhD project focuses on the study of growth and development of Homo sapiens skull, with a particular focus on the facial region and its internal structures such as the nasal cavity and maxillary sinuses. The study of growth, interaction, modularity and integration of cranial elements in modern humans is then put in comparison with the ontogenetic skull development of Homo neanderthalensis. The main aim of the project is to have an insight into the structural mechanisms that drive the changes in midfacial form. The project also aims to study the biomechanics and adaptive remodelling of the midfacial region in modern humans and their ancestors.
Publications
Selected publications
September 2015 – Awarded of the Fellowship bursary from the funding program “Torno Subito”, Italy.
September 2015 - poster presentation at the European Society for the study of Human Evolution (ESHE meeting, London, UK): Profico, A., Buzi, C., Landi, F., Lattarini, F., A., Veneziano, A., Di Vincenzo, F., & Manzi, G. “Morphological integration and modularity in the cranium of extant and fossil Hominoidea: a 3D Geometric-Morphometric approach”.
March 2016 - poster presentation at Primate Society of Great Britain (PSGB, spring meeting, York, UK): Landi, F., Profico, A., & Veneziano, A. “Understanding primate locomotion from cranial base morphology: a Geometric Morphometric approach”.
July 2016. Podium presentation at Dental Anthropology Scientific Symposium, Zagreb, Croatia: Towle, I., Dove, E. R., Irish, J. D., De Groote, I., Veneziano, A., & Landi, F. “An analysis of dental pathology and wear in the medieval city of Gloucester and comparisons with other sites.”
September 2016 - poster presentation for the ESHE meeting 2016 (Alcala de Henares, Spain): Landi, F., Profico, A., Veneziano, A., De Groote, I., & Manzi, G. “Investigating locomotion from cranial base morphology and foramen magnum position in primates and hominins”.
January 2017 - poster presentation and short talk at the PSGB (winter meeting, Durham, UK): Landi, F., Profico, A., & Veneziano, A. “Revisiting foramen magnum position as a proxy for locomotion in Hominoidea”.
September 2017 - poster presentation at ESHE meeting (Leiden, Holland): Landi, F., Profico, A., & Veneziano, A. “Rethinking foramen magnum position as a proxy for locomotion”.
February 2018- accepted paper: Veneziano, A., Landi, F., & Profico, A. Surface smoothing, decimation, and their effects on 3D biological specimens. American journal of physical anthropology. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.23431
April 2018 – Landi, F., Profico, A., Veneziano, A., De Groote, I., & Manzi, G. (paper under review). Challenging a dogma: foramen magnum position in primates and fossil hominins. Scientific Reports.
July 2018 – Podium presentation at the Hull York Medical School conference: Landi, F., O’Higgins, P. “Growth and development of maxillary sinuses in Sapiens and Neanderthals”.
September 2018. Podium presentation at ESHE conference (Faro, Portugal): Landi, F., Profico A., O’Higgins, P. “Maxillary sinus growth and development in Neanderthals and Sapiens”.
