Center for Anatomical Sciences
CAS is a division of the Department of Physiology and Anatomy at UNT Health Fort Worth.
OUR MISSION: To advance scientific knowledge through education and research in the anatomical sciences and allied fields.
EXPERTISE: The CAS faculty have extensive backgrounds in anatomy, biological anthropology, evolutionary biology, histology, neuroanatomy and embryology, in addition to education and K-12 science outreach.
GRADUATE STUDIES: The CAS graduate programs (MS and PhD) provide opportunities for our graduate students to pursue research in structural anatomy and biomechanics as applied to biological anthropology, evolutionary biology, forensics and rehabilitation/orthopedic sciences.
OUTREACH: We are a leading provider of high-quality outreach programs for students and teachers in the Fort Worth ISD and surrounding Tarrant County area.
FACILITIES: Our center encompasses 8,000-square-feet of anatomy laboratories that support anatomical education, research, and outreach. The Center also houses five state-of-the-art research laboratories equipped for medical imaging analysis/morphometrics, forensic anthropology, thermoregulatory studies (environmental chamber), histology and paleontological fossil preparation/analysis.
News
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December 3, 2025Media coverage of Drs. Elizabeth Cho and Scott Maddux's thermoregulatory research funded by a collaborative grant from the National Science Foundation: "Experimental testing of thermoregulatory principles: Re-evaluating ecogeographic rules in living humans" "The quest to find out how our bodies react to extreme temperatures" MIT Technology Review. Free audio recording available here. |
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November 24, 2025CAS Postdoctoral Associate, Dr. Subash Sapkota, has been awarded an Interdisciplinary Research Leadership Fellowship through the UNT Health Institute for Health Disparities. |
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October 17, 2025Department of Physiology and Anatomy SEED Grant Awardees:
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October 17, 2025Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Genetics SEED Grant Awardees:
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October 17, 2025Department of Parmacology & Neurocience SEED Grant Awardees:
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August 19, 2025Media coverage of Dr. Kate Lesciotto‘s recent collaborative grant from the National Institute of Justice: “MOSAIC: Unifying Methods of Sex, Stature, Affinity & Age for Identification through Computational Standardization.” "UNT Health idea and $2M grant fuel AI forensics tool to help solve missing persons cases" Dallas Innovates |
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August 11, 2025CAS welcomes Postdoctoral Associates Paige Lynch and Subash Sapkota. Dr. Lynch’s research focuses on forensic anthropology and she joins the Lesciotto Lab. Dr. Sapkota’s research focuses on neurobiology and he joins the Menegaz Lab. |
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July 30, 2025PhD candidate Baonhu Tran received a Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grant (DDRIG) from the National Science Foundation to support her dissertation project: “Re-evaluating the role of the respiratory system in human thermoregulation.” |
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May 22, 2025Congratulations to Dr. Courtney Miller for receiving the 2025 UNT Health Chancellor’s Award for Scholarly Excellence. The Chancellor’s Award for Scholarly Excellence recognizes an outstanding graduate from UNT Health Fort Worth with an emphasis on scholarly research. |
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May 8, 2025PhD candidate Baonhu Tran received a Research Grant from the Leakey Foundation to support her dissertation project: “Experimentally re-evaluating the role of the respiratory system in human thermoregulatory adaptation.” |
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April 28, 2025PhD student Courtney Miller received the Dean’s Award for Scholarly Achievement in Research at the CBTS Annual Award Ceremony. Other CAS honorees included:
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April 11, 2025PhD candidate Baonhu Tran received a Dissertation Field Work research grant from the Wenner-Gren Foundation to support her dissertation project: “Reevaluating the role of the respiratory system in human thermoregulation and climatic adaptation.” |
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February 25, 2025Dr. Graci Finco received an R21 research grant from the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging & Bioengineering (1R21EB036447-01) to support her project focused on evaluating fall risks in users of lower limb prosthetics: “Bionic and robotic prostheses: identifying bioethical concerns from key groups to improve development and clinical translation approaches.” |
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February 20, 2025Dr. Lauren Gonzales received a New Investigator Grant from the UNT Health Research Enhancement Assistance Program (REAP) to support her project focused on creating a publically-accessible digital data repository for fossils recovered from the Middle Miocene site of Moboko Island, Kenya: “Preserving the past: establishing a digital database and archive for the Maboko Research Project (1982-present).” |
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January 31, 2025An article by Dr. Kate Lesciotto named to the Journal of Forensic Sciences’ list of 2024 “Noteworthy Articles“. Noteworthy Articles are selected annually by the JFS Editors to highlight the most impactful scientific articles in forensic science. Lesciotto, K. M., & Christensen, A. M. (2024). The over‐citation of Daubert in forensic anthropology. Journal of Forensic Sciences, 69(1), 9-17. |
For more news, see the Center for Anatomical Sciences News Archive
CONTACT:
Center for Anatomical Sciences
UNT Health Fort Worth
3500 Camp Bowie Blvd.
Fort Worth, TX 76107
Phone: 817-735-2414
Fax: 817-735-2126