- Use of a new, powerful quantitative tool, Anatomical network analysis, together with its  creators - Diego Rasskin-Gutman and Borja Esteve-Altava - and other colleagues, to study the  morphological complexity, evolvability, modularity and integration  of the musculoskeletal  structures of the human/primate head and limbs. 

 - Use of anatomical networks to study the macroevolutionary events occurred during the fin-limb transitions/tetrapod origin

 - Use of anatomical networks to better understand birth defects and the differences and  similarities between normal and abnormal development.

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(* picture by, and copyright of, Christopher Smith)

  - Dissection of humans with various types of birth defects (e.g., polydactyly or oligodactyly) related with different types of syndromes (e.g. related to trisomies 13, 18 and 21).

 - Publication of musculoskeletal atlases of different types of human defects (e.g., polydactyly) in different types of syndromes (e.g. related to trisomies 13, 18 and 21).

 - Study of phenotypic-genotypic correlations and muscle-skeleton spatial associations in human birth defects

- Pave the way to better predict the musculoskeletal phenotype of infants and children with birth defects and therefore to better evaluate and plan, and improve the effective effectiveness of, surgical treatment of such defects

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 (* picture by, and copyright of, Christopher Smith)

 - Dissections and imaging of the musculo-skeletal system of  non-vertebrate groups such as sea squirts and of each major  group of vertebrates, including taxa such as skates, zebrafish,  turtles, lizards, frogs, salamanders, chicken, marsupials, mice,  bats, and primates

 - Parallelism between ontogeny and phylogeny

 - Analyses of anatomical variants/anomalies: comparative,  evolutionary, developmental and genetic perspectives

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- Dissections and imaging of the  musculo-skeletal  system of non-vertebrate groups and of each major group of vertebrates, including chondrichthyans, actinopterygians, dipnoans,  turtles, crocodilians, birds, squamates, anurans, caecilians, urodeles, monotremes, marsupials,  rodents, bats, flying lemurs, tree-shrews, and  primates

- Publications of Tables with homology hypotheses synonymies for each muscle of each taxon

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- Cladistic analyses of the higher-level phylogeny of chordates and of the relationships of various subgroups (e.g., teleosts, ostariophysans, catfish) based on hard-tissue and soft-tissue characters

- Cladistic analyses of various groups (e.g., sturgeons, ostariophysans, teleosts) based on molecular characters

- Muscles vs bones, soft tissues vs hard tissues, and morphology vs molecules in phylogenetic reconstructions

- Homology, homoplasy, convergences, reversions, and anatomical complexity within the evolutionary history of chordates

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- Dissections and functional analyses of non-vertebrates and of each major group of vertebrates

- Publications of functional schemes and interpretations (e.g., evolution of feeding mechanisms, of locomotion, of sound-producing mechanisms, of the pectoral girdle, of vocal communication, of facial expressions, among others) based on anatomical and biomechanical analyzes

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 - Publication of musculoskeletal  atlases for each group of extant  apes and for other primate taxa

 - Production of websites and  databases including photographs,  tables, literature reviews, CT  and MRI scans and 3D  reconstructions of the soft tissues  of apes and other primates

 - Documentation of the ontogeny  and variations/anomalies of the  soft tissues of modern humans  and non-human primates, and  discussion of the medical  implications and applications of  the data obtained

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