Manchester Metropolitan University

Academic and professional qualifications

PhD in Animal Biology - University of Manchester (2014)

BSc in Geography and Geology - University of Manchester (2009)

Previous employment

I was awarded at BBSRC Future Leader Fellowship in 2016, which I began at the University of Manchester and subsequently moved to Manchester Metropolitan University. Following my PhD, which I completed in 2014, I worked at the Natural History Museum in London as a PDRA.

Why study ?

Postgraduate supervision (completed/in progress)

Callum McLean (PhD Student) 2016-ongoing: The biomechanics of predatory structures in arthropods

Research expertise

I am a BBSRC Future Leader Fellow at Manchester Metropolitan University.

My research is highly interdisciplinary, spanning taxonomic groups and geologic time periods, seeking to address questions of form and function using 3D imaging and computational simulation approaches. During my fellowship, I will be focusing on the evolution of mammalian genitalia. In several groups of mammals, males possess a bone within the penis called the baculum. Whilst many hypotheses have been put forward to explain this structure, rigorous biomechanical analyses have been lacking. In some species, females also possess an analogous bone, although its occurrence and potential function is even more mysterious. I will be combining traditional anatomy, phylogenetics, high-resolution CT imaging and engineering simulations to investigate the evolution of these enigmatic structures.

Publications

• Journal articles

  CA. Brassey, S. Maidment, P. Barrett (2017). Muscle moment arm analyses applied to vertebrate paleontology: a case study using Stegosaurus stenops Marsh, 1887. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.

  W. Sellers, S. Pond, CA. Brassey, P. Manning, K. Bates (2017). Investigating the running abilities of Tyrannosaurus rex using stress-constrained multibody dynamic analysis. PeerJ. 5,

  KE. Peyer, C. Brassey, K. Rose, WI. Sellers (2017). Locomotion pattern and foot pressure adjustments during gentle turns in healthy subjects. Journal of Biomechanics. 60, pp.65-71.

  L. Mol, M. Gomez-Heras, C. Brassey, O. Green, T. Blenkinsop (2017). The benefit of a tough skin: Bullet holes, weathering and the preservation of heritage. Royal Society Open Science. 4(2),

  CA. Brassey, TG. O'Mahoney, AT. Chamberlain, WI. Sellers (2017). A volumetric technique for fossil body mass estimation applied to Australopithecus afarensis. Journal of Human Evolution.

  CA. Brassey (2016). BODY-MASS ESTIMATION IN PALEONTOLOGY: A REVIEW OF VOLUMETRIC TECHNIQUES. The Paleontological Society Papers. 22, pp.133-156.

  S. Lautenschlager, CA. Brassey, DJ. Button, PM. Barrett (2016). Decoupled form and function in disparate herbivorous dinosaur clades. Scientific Reports. 6,

  CA. Brassey, TG. O'Mahoney, AC. Kitchener, PL. Manning, WI. Sellers (2016). Convex-hull mass estimates of the dodo (Raphus cucullatus): Application of a CT-based mass estimation technique. PeerJ. 2016(1),

  SCR. Maidment, C. Brassey, PM. Barrett (2015). The postcranial skeleton of an exceptionally complete individual of the plated dinosaur Stegosaurus stenops (Dinosauria: Thyreophora) from the upper jurassic morrison formation of Wyoming, U.S.A. PLoS ONE. 10(10),

  CA. Brassey, JD. Gardiner (2015). An advanced shape-fitting algorithm applied to quadrupedal mammals: Improving volumetric mass estimates. Royal Society Open Science. 2(8),

  KT. Bates, PL. Falkingham, S. Macaulay, C. Brassey, SCR. Maidment (2015). Downsizing a giant: Re-evaluating Dreadnoughtus body mass. Biology Letters. 11(6),

  CA. Brassey, SCR. Maidment, PM. Barrett (2015). Body mass estimates of an exceptionally complete Stegosaurus (Ornithischia: Thyreophora): Comparing volumetric and linear bivariate mass estimation methods. Biology Letters. 11(3),

  CA. Brassey, WI. Sellers (2014). Scaling of convex hull volume to body mass in modern primates, non-primate mammals and birds. PLoS ONE. 9(3),

  CA. Brassey, RN. Holdaway, AG. Packham, J. Anné, PL. Manning, et al. WI. Sellers. (2013). More than one way of being a Moa: Differences in leg bone robustness map divergent evolutionary trajectories in Dinornithidae and Emeidae (Dinornithiformes). PLoS ONE. 8(12),

  CA. Brassey, AC. Kitchener, PJ. Withers, PL. Manning, WI. Sellers (2013). The Role of Cross-Sectional Geometry, Curvature, and Limb Posture in Maintaining Equal Safety Factors: A Computed Tomography Study. Anatomical Record. 296(3), pp.395-413.

  CA. Brassey, L. Margetts, AC. Kitchener, PJ. Withers, PL. Manning, et al. WI. Sellers. (2013). Finite element modelling versus classic beam theory: Comparing methods for stress estimation in a morphologically diverse sample of vertebrate long bones. Journal of the Royal Society Interface. 10(79),

  WI. Sellers, J. Hepworth-Bell, PL. Falkingham, KT. Bates, CA. Brassey, et al. VM. Egerton, PL. Manning. (2012). Minimum convex hull mass estimations of complete mounted skeletons. Biology Letters. 8(5), pp.842-845.

Expert reviewer for journals and publishers

Reviewer for Royal Society Proceedings B, Royal Society Interface, Journal of Biomechanics, Journal of Zoology, Journal of Theoretical Biology, American Journal of Physical Anthropology, Integrative and Comparative Biology, Journal of Poultry Science, Paleontologica Electronica and PLoS ONE.

Grants

2015 BBSRC Future Leader Fellowship (£285,539) – Principal Investigator Bones of contention: The functional morphology and biomechanics of the mammalian os penis and os clitoridis.

2015 Jurassic Foundation (£2000) – Principal Investigator Forward dynamic analysis of stegosaur locomotion and associated trackway simulation.

2015 British Ornithological Society Small Grants (£1300) – Principal Investigator The anatomy and functional mechanics of cranial ornamentation in the Southern cassowary (Casuarius casuarius).

2015 NERC Summer of Science Outreach Call (£4000) – Co-investigator Kinect controlled dinosaur simulations for education and public outreach.

2013 PRACE European Distributed Computing Initiative (6 million core hours, notional value ~£75,000) – Co-investigator Gait generation optimization algorithms.