Carolina Loch Santos Da Silva

Biography

  Dr Carolina Loch Santos Da Silvais a part of the Craniofacial Biology and Biomechanics and Oral Implantology Programmes of the SJWRI. She has worked in collaboration with Prof. Paul Brunton, Dr. Don Schwass, Prof. Warwick Duncan, among others. A few of her recent research projects spanned from the biomechanics of the human jaw and development of dental appliances in the interface of oral and general health, to the laboratory testing and characterisation of new dental materials. In 2013 she concluded a multidisciplinary PhD on the "Morphology, function and evolution of teeth in fossil and modern Odontocetes (Cetacea)" in the Department of Geology and the Faculty of Dentistry. The research was supervised by Prof Ewan Fordyce (Geology) and the late Prof Jules Kieser (SJWRI), who was one of the most inspiring and influential figures in her academic formation. Previous to her PhD, she completed a BSc in Biology and a MSc in Zoology in my home country, Brazil. In addition to the joys of science, she is also interested in martial arts, football, Latin American cultures, tramping and travelling.

Research Interest

  Dr. Carolina Loch Santos Da Silva’s research is focused on evolutionary oral biology and comparative dental morphology, mainly using animal teeth to gather a wide range of information about the biology, evolution and interactions with the environment of fossil and recent species. Comparative dental anatomy and ultrastructure are some of the key components of her research. She is also interested in dental hard tissues processing and analyses using modern analytical techniques such as electron microscopy, biomechanical testing, geochemical analysis and micro-computed tomography.