deanlab
comparative morphology,
mechanics & materials
Department of Infectious Diseases & Public Health,
City University of Hong Kong
@MasonDeanLab
our GROUP
Our workgroup is based in the Department of Infectious Diseases & Public Health @ City University of Hong Kong, with collaborations and students
...in the Department of Biomaterials,
Max Planck Institute of Colloids & Interfaces in Potsdam, Germany
(especially with Shahrouz Amini's group)
...through an HFSP-funded collaboration with Jeremy Goldbogen (Stanford), Sabine Hauert (Bristol), and Sean Hanna (UCL)
...and in the Matters of Activity Research Excellence Cluster,
(with John Nyakatura's Lab at the HU)
We have ongoing projects with a variety of regular collaborators, at the University of Montpellier, Zuse Institute for Information Technology in Berlin, the Wyss Institute for Bioinspired Design at Harvard, and other institutions
[CityU/MPI]
Viktoriia Kamska
Post-doctoral researcher
Anatomy and functional morphology of shark and ray skin
vkamska@cityu.edu.hk | ResearchGate | LinkedIn | Personal website
Kanmani Chandra Rajan
Post-doctoral researcher
Shark fin biomaterials
Mike Schindler
Ph.D. student
Anatomy and functional morphology of shark feeding
Benjamin Flaum
Ph.D. student
Comparative cartilage biology and mechanics
María José Robles Malagamba
Ph.D. student
Ultrasonographic assessment of cetacean mammary glands
Jana Ciecierska-Holmes
studentische Hilfskraft / Undergraduate researcher (w/ Nyakatura Lab)
Geometric analyses of biological tessellations
Deidra Wirakusumah
Research Assistant (w/ Benoit Guénard + HK Biodiversity Museum)
Virtual approaches in Hong Kong Biodiversity Museum specimen collections
Agnes Chan
Final Year Project Research Student
Digital anatomical imaging of endangered bird species
[Lab & project alumni]
Binru Yang MPIKG/TU Berlin PhD, Mechanical and structural analyses of tessellations
Amar Surapaneni CityU Post Doc, Micromorphology, mechanics & sustainable biomimetics
Chloe Hatten CityU Post Doc, Conservation morphology of illegally traded wildlife
Yen Png CityU Bachelor's Final Year Project, Feeding behavior of basking sharks
Júlia Chaumel MPIKG PhD, Chondrocyte structure & function in tessellated cartilage
Chuang Liu MPIKG Post Doc, Structural and materials characterization of bone growth plates
Aravind Jayasankar MPIKG PhD, Analytical & Finite Element modeling of bio-inspired tessellations
Ronald Seidel MPIKG Post Doc, Ultrastructure, development & mechanics of chimaera teeth
Ronald Seidel MPIKG PhD, Ultrastructure, development & mechanics of tessellated cartilage
Mohammad Tadayon MPIKG w.M., Structure-function relationships in stingray tissues
Charlotte Viets MPIKG s.H., Structure-function relationships in stingray skeletons
Jensina Froland MPIKG s.H., 3D printing & mechanical testing of intertesseral joints
Jacob Naumann MPIKG s.H., Parametric modeling & mechanical testing of 3D-printed tilings
Ronald Seidel MPIKG w.M., Evolutionary morphology of the head skeleton of batoid fishes
Allison Luger MPIKG w.M., Lamniform shark jaw morphology & mechanics
Merlind Schotte ZIB Bachelor's thesis, Lamniform shark jaw morphology & mechanics
David Knötel ZIB MSc thesis, Semi-automatic segmentation of tessellated cartilage
Rishabh Shrivastava MPIKG w.M., Topology of tesserae lacuno-canalicular networks
Anne Kaulfuss MPIKG w.M., Ultrastructure & mineralization of tessellated cartilage
w.M. = wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter / Research Assistant; s.H. = studentische Hilfskraft / Student Assistant
our WORK
We investigate principles of organization and performance in animal musculoskeletal systems —particularly in fishes— to address questions relevant to ecology, evolution, physiology and behavior, also incorporating engineering and physical science perspectives to inform biomaterials and translational science.
Mouse-over images below to learn more about the techniques we use
[Please ask me before using any of these images.]
our ORGANISMS are museum-pickled or fresh from the sea or market.
we use HISTOLOGY & LIGHT MICROSCOPY to characterize tissue type & organization (and to make pretty pictures). [...collaboration with Michael Blumer (Medizinische Universität Innsbruck)...]
with ELECTRON MICROSCOPY, we can investigate tissue ultrastructure and composition. [...collaborations with Michael Blumer (Medizinische Universität Innsbruck), Sidney Omelon (University of Ottawa) & Luca Bertinetti (MPIKG)...]
CT scanning produces tons of data - we’re working with Daniel Baum’s visual data analysis group (Zuse Institute Berlin) to make SEGMENTATION & IMAGE ANALYSIS easier.
we use MULTI-MATERIAL 3D PRINTING to convert digital tomography data back into physical objects and to more manageable scales. [...collaborations with James Weaver (Harvard’s Wyss Institute) & Ahmed Hosny (Dana Farber Cancer Institute)...]
with MECHANICAL & MATERIALS TESTING, we test the performance of (and verify our predictions for) biological tissues and 3D printed models. [...collaborations with James Weaver (Harvard’s Wyss Institute) & Ling Li (Virginia Tech)...]
our PUBLICATIONS
See ResearchGate, Web of Science, or CityU Scholars (embedded below) for publication list and PDFs
GET iN TOUCH!
Mason Dean
Department of Infectious Diseases & Public Health
5/F, Block 1, To Yuen Building
31 To Yuen Street
City University of Hong Kong
Kowloon, Hong Kong
