Welcome to the Comparative Vertebrate Biomechanics Lab at Friday Harbor Laboratories

In this lab we apply principles from engineering and physics to living systems to better understand mechanics, materials and structure as well as evolutionary processes. A good deal of work that goes on here is on cartilaginous fishes, though there is also a strong interest in amphibians and reptiles.

Principal Investigator

Adam Summers is the associate director of the University of Washington’s Friday Harbor Laboratories and an associate professor in the department of Biology and in the School of Aquatic and Fisheries Sciences.

Adam's research is heavily collections based and he holds research associate positions at the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology at UC Berkeley and the Los Angeles County Museum.

Current research topics include the evolution and mechanical properties of cartilage and tendon, swimming mechanics of sharks, respiratory patterns of sharks and rays and solid-solid interactions in aquatic organisms.