An international team of researchers from 23 institutions across three continents has identified two genetic factors that are strongly associated with the most common form of non-syndromic craniosynostosis -- premature closure of the bony plates of the skull. The team of geneticists, pediatricians, surgeons and epidemiologists includes Joan Richtsmeier, professor of anthropology at Penn State, and Yann Heuze, a post-doc in the Richtsmeier lab.