Rate My Professor Terence Capellini

Capellini's research identifies DNA base-pair changes driving human and non-human primate biological adaptations, elucidating developmental and genetic mechanisms of trait formation, inheritance, and disease susceptibility. Key focuses include genetic alterations shaping the unique human post-cranial skeleton, the genetic and developmental architecture of primate joint diversity, Neanderthal interbreeding contributions to human adaptations, and evolutionary impacts on osteoarthritis risk. His lab integrates developmental biology, genetics, genomics, comparative biology, and primate/human evolution. Supported by NIH R01 grants from NIAMS on human knee joint/pelvis architecture (2022-2027) and musculoskeletal development for disease variants (2025-2030), plus NSF funding on introgressed variants, the work bridges paleoanthropology, skeletal biology, functional genomics, and medicine. Prominent publications encompass 'The evolution of hominin bipedalism in two steps' (Nature, 2025), 'Functional genomics of human skeletal development and the patterning of height heritability' (Cell, 2025), 'Evolutionary Selection and Constraint on Human Knee Chondrocyte Regulation Impacts Osteoarthritis Risk' (Cell, 2020), and 'The developmental impacts of natural selection on human pelvis morphology' (Science Advances, 2022). His findings have garnered attention in Nature, the New York Times, and Harvard Gazette, with public lectures such as 'When Evolution Hurts' at the Peabody Museum.