John Hutchinson
Research Interests
John's Research Interests
General Interests:
- Locomotor biomechanics and evolution
- Paleobiology/evolutionary biology
- Computer simulation and dynamic analysis of locomotion
- Systematics, especially as it relates to the evolution of form and function.
- Musculoskeletal anatomy and homology
- Three-dimensional studies of anatomy and mechanics
- Integration of theoretical and empirical approaches
- Experimental validation of computer simulations
- Sensitivity analysis of unknown biomechanical parameters
- Scaling of anatomy, function and performance (especially deviations from main trends, e.g. at large sizes)
- Evolutionary biomechanics of large land animals: how and why do
stance, gait and speed change with size?
- Finite element analysis of locomotor function
- Limits of functional and anatomical reconstruction in extinct animals
- The biomechanics of bipedal and quadrupedal locomotion.
- Dinosaur biology (including extant birds).
- Elephant biology (including extinct proboscideans)
- Sub-optimal organismal design
Currently/recently funded grants:
- "Locomotion in the earliest tetrapods: testing models of terrestriality." NERC Research Grant from 2009-2012, with Prof. Jennifer Clack at Dept. Zoology, Cambridge University
- "Chinese feathered dinosaurs and the evolution of bipedalism." The Royal Society International Joint Project from 2009-2011, with Dr. Zhonghe Zhou and others, IVPP, Beijing, China
- "Phylogenetic structural scaling of the appendicular skeleton: relationship with loading regime and locomotor behaviour." BBSRC Engineering and Biological Systems Research Grant from 2007-2010, with Drs. Sandra Shefelbine and Anthony Bull at Dept. Bioengineering, Imperial College
- "Locomotor design constraints and musculoskeletal compromises in broiler chickens." Cobb-Vantress Inc./BBSRC CASE Studentship from 2007-2011, with Dr. Sandra Corr (RVC)
- "Elephant speed and gait: The locomotor biomechanics of the largest living land animals." BBSRC Animal Sciences New Investigator Research Grant from 2005-2008. Explanatory webpage coming soon.
Specific Interests:
(most of these are current projects, some with capacity for new collaborations, especially students and postdocs/fellowships; many are with collaborators-- see Links page for details)
- The musculoskeletal anatomy of elephants and other large land animals.
- How do animal feet function in gait, and how does this relate to pathology?
- The influence of size (e.g., dwarfing, gigantism) on elephant biomechanics
- How tyrannosaurs and other theropod dinosaurs stood and moved.
- The evolution of locomotion in archosaurian reptiles, especially
theropod dinosaurs (on the line to birds).
- The evolutionary biomechanics of bounding and galloping gaits in
crocodylians.
- The locomotor biomechanics of ratite birds, rhinoceroses, horses,
and other tetrapods of medium-large size.
- Estimation of body mass, center of mass, and mass moments of inertia
in extinct animals (esp. dinosaurs).
- How animals sit down and stand up.
- How long do muscle fibers need to be in terrestrial vertebrates?
- How limb muscle moment arms change with posture (and anatomical
modeling assumptions).
See also:
