Grant lets marine biologist pursue bioinspired study of jellyfish

Biology professor and marine biologist Kelly Sutherland from the University of Oregon has been awarded $1.1 million over three years from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. The project she is working on focuses on how jellyfish must work together to swim in the ocean. She is also working with other organisms, such as gelatinous worms and snails. Sutherland believes they are the most effective swimmers in the ocean. These animals filter water in order to move and also to take up food. From the bio-inspired angle, Sutherland wants to understand how these jellyfish swim to improve underwater transport. She hopes to learn more about the shape of the colony as it moves through the ocean and how the pattern of the water changes as the organisms swim through. So far, a surprising discovery is that there is no pattern of propulsion. They do not pulse at the same time but rather pulse at different times. This allows the cony to have a continuous and maintained movement. It will be interesting to hear about new discoveries made in this lab in the next few years and how it might change the design of underwater vehicles.

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