Jacqueline Moustakas
Hlusko LabEmail: moustakas@berkeley.edu Phone: (510) 643-8851 Her research: Jackie studies tooth development in opossums, to learn how differences in mammal tooth morphology are generated through evolution. Mammals, as a group, exhibit great variation in tooth morphology – just think about the sharp canines of a dog, the long tusks of an elephant and the little buck teeth of a rabbit. Mammals have four types of teeth: incisors, canines, premolars, and molars. However, most research on tooth development is done on mice, and they exhibit only two tooth types, incisors and molars. Mouse teeth are very derived – a whole lot of evolution has gone on in the mouse mouth since their lineage split off from the other mammals. Opossums, however, have quite primitive teeth, and exhibit all four tooth types. Jackie is studying how tooth identity is determined – how a tooth grows to become an incisor, a canine, a premolar or a molar.
How she got interested in evolutionary biology: As a student, Jackie was alwas good at math and science. She wanted to go into medicine, until she took her first class in evolutionary biology. She was fascinated by the course material. "I thought – people do this for a living?" She completely changed her career plans. "I just got way way into my classes. I had some really great professors – they were inspiring."
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