Mebin George Varghese

M.Sc., Ph.D Student

Mebin George Varghese -at- helsinki.fi

I have a background in Ecology and Evolution and a passion for wildlife. I joined the Jernvall lab in 2022 as a research assistant and began my PhD in 2023. My research focuses on dental morphology and molar size reduction in bears and humans. In human evolution, molar size has progressively reduced, particularly in wisdom teeth, which are often the smallest or absent. Similar reduction is also observed in wild species like the polar bear. Both bears and humans share the characteristic of low-crowned teeth and exhibit high intraspecific variation in the occlusal morphology.

In my projects, I use various dental topographic methods to study molar size reduction. Analyzing the different modes of size reduction helps us determine whether these changes are due to adaptation to specific diets or the loss of functional roles. Comparing variation in wild species with humans enhances our understanding of how basic research can inform human health issues.