Research Group Evolutionary Morphology of Vertebrates

This research group focuses on different aspects of musculoskeletal development, comparative anatomy, function and evolution across vertebrate groups, as well as research on biomimetic applications inspired by this. For this research, different methodologies are used:

• Dissections;
• Clearing-and-staining;
• Histological sectioning;
• µCT scanning and 3D visualisation;
• Geometric morphometrics;
• Biomechanics (data acquisition and modelling);
• Performance testing.

The expertise on studying vertebrate phenotypes is often used for more applied research topics, such as (i) environmental effects on fish development and functional performance, (ii) larval fish quality assessment in aquaculture, (iii) phenotyping cranio-facial deformations in model organisms and (iv) bio-inspired design and innovation.

Previous and ongoing research in the group focuses on opercular deformities and skeletal deformities in general in gilthead seabream and seabass. By studying adaptive evolution in musculoskeletal systems in fish (and other vertebrates), a bio-inspired design method is used to evaluate the potential of application tools derived from the evolutionary morphological questions. Main research currently deals with prehensile systems inspired by the evolution towards a grasping tail in seahorses. Applications are mainly dealing towards application in biomedicine.