ReSearch
We study the evolution of muscle function across biological scales, through the lenses of biomechanics, morphology, and physiology. Collaboratively, we pursue multi-scale, mechanistic understandings of the musculoskeletal bases for how evolutionary transformations in animal movement influence ecology and behavior. Skeletal muscle function is considered highly conserved across animals with muscles in flyers, swimmers, and runners operating within similar physiological constraints on force, speed, and work. This begs the question: How can the animal kingdom display such rich examples of motion performance that exceed or defy the conserved function of muscle? We tackle this fundamental question using multi-scale approaches that address four broad component questions about the evolution of muscle function: