Chi Zhang, PhD

Biography

Education and Post-Graduate Training

• Ph.D., Biological Anthropology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA (2020)
• B.S., Electrical and Computer Engineering, Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications (joint program with New York Institute of Technology), Nanjing, China (2012)

Career History

• Postdoctoral Fellow, the Maga Lab, Center for Developmental Biology and Regenerative Medicine, Seattle Children’s Research Institute, Seattle, WA, USA (2021-2023)
• Instructor, Department of Anthropology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA (2020)

Teaching Interests

Teaching responsibilities include Human Gross Anatomy

Research Interests

Dr. Chi Zhang’s research interests include 1) applying 3D imaging and shape analytical techniques to study human craniofacial biology, evolution, and diseases and 2) developing software tools for facilitating 3D biological data acquisition and analysis.

Dr. Zhang’s Ph.D. dissertation research applied 3D morphometrics to analyze the craniofacial variation of a fossil human species, Homo erectus, and examined the efficacy of GMM in capturing anatomical details. He also used morphometrics to study excessive nasal asymmetry from adults who bore cleft-palate genes as a potential risk indicator. As a postdoctoral researcher at the Seattle Children’s Research Institute, Dr. Zhang worked on the open-source software development of the SlicerMorph extension of the biomedical imaging platform 3D Slicer, such as the automated landmarking and model registration modules, for researchers to collect and analyze 3D anatomical data. He also developed an open-source photogrammetry workflow for conveniently acquiring 3D biological models with high-quality texture. Currently, Dr. Zhang is continuing his research on the application and development of 3D modeling and shape analytical tools for biomedical and biological research.

Selected Publications

1. Zhang, C., & Maga, A. M. (2023). An open-source photogrammetry workflow for reconstructing 3D models. Integrative Organismal Biology, 5(1), obad024 (https://doi.org/10.1093/iob/obad024).
2. Zhang, C., Porto, A., Rolfe, S., Kocatulum, A., & Maga, A. M. (2022). Automated Landmarking via Multiple Templates. PLOS ONE, 17(12), e0278035 (https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0278035).
3. Zhang, C., Miller, S. F., Roosenboom, J., Wehby, G. L., Moreno Uribe, L. M., Hecht, J. T., ... & Weinberg, S. M. (2018). Soft tissue nasal asymmetry as an indicator of orofacial cleft predisposition. American Journal of Medical Genetics Part A, 176(6), 1296-1303 (10.1002/ajmg.a.38688).
4. Schwartz, J. H., Tattersall, I., & Zhang, C. (2014). Comment on “A complete skull from Dmanisi, Georgia, and the evolutionary biology of early Homo”, Science, 344(6182), 360 (10.1126/science.1250056).