Dr. Maria Serrat
Assistant Professor, Department of Anatomy and Pathology

Education
B.A. 1999, Anthropology, Miami University, Ohio
M.A. 2002, Anthropology, Kent State University
Ph.D. 2007, Biological Anthropology, Kent State

Research
Dr. Serrat is interested in the evolution and plasticity of the mammalian postcranial skeleton (below the head). Her current work investigates environmental inputs on bone elongation, specifically the facilitative and/or inhibitory roles of temperature and physical activity on limb lengthening. Her research has relevance for understanding and treating human bone growth disorders.

Teaching
Dr. Serrat teaches Gross Anatomy and Embryology at the Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine. She previously taught gross anatomy at the Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine, as well as Human Evolution and Biostatistics at Kent State University. Dr. Serrat’s training in biological anthropology affords her a unique position at the crossroads of several exciting scientific fields.  She looks forward to graduate education and mentoring at Marshall.

Background
After completing her degree in Biomedical Sciences at Kent State University, Dr. Serrat spent two years as a Postdoctoral Associate at Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine. There she used in vivo multiphoton imaging to measure nutrient delivery to skeletal growth plates, the regions of cartilage where bone elongation occurs. Dr. Serrat is currently working with colleagues at Cornell to establish a similar platform for live animal imaging here at Marshall. While at Cornell, she participated in veterinary gross anatomy dissections and mentored several undergraduates. She has seven peer-reviewed publications in diverse biology journals.

Dr. Serrat is a member of the American Physiological Society, American Association of Anatomists, International Society of Vertebrate Morphology, Sigma Xi, and Association for Women in Science.

Contact Info
telephone: (304) 696-7392
email: serrat@marshall.edu

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