Edwin Dumont - Comparative Biomechanics Lab

Biology Department

Dr. Edwin DeMont , Full Professor in the Biology Department at St. Francis Xavier University, received his Doctorate in aquatic animal locomotion from the University of British Columbia. He was a NATO Science Fellow at the University of Leeds in England and is an adjunct professor in the School of Biomedical Engineering at Dalhousie University. Dr. DeMont has won both the Outstanding Teacher Award and the President's Research Award at St. Francis Xavier University. He worked as a Master Tutor for Swimming Canada and taught Biomechanics to Olympic and national swimming coaches.

Dr. DeMont was a member of three different NSERC Committees and a former Committee Chair. He is a founding member and the first president of the Offshore Energy Environmental Research Association (OEER). In 2004, he was a scientist in an ESRF funded project entitled Effects of Pipelines/Gathering Lines on Snow Crab and Lobster and he has published a number of papers on aquatic animal locomotion.

Research Activities

Most of the research conducted in the Comparative Biomechanics Lab is focused on the mechanics of locomotion in marine animals. Our previous work was focused on jet-propelled swimming animals, but more recently we have been working on both swimming and walking in lobsters and crabs. We are also equipped to measure the mechanical properties of soft tissues.

The department also has a growing interest in the area of biomimicry, which has lead to the establishment of BioMimiX.

BioMimiX is a StFX team created by Dr. Edwin DeMont to solve industrial problems using a relatively new science called biomimicry. Biomimicry studies nature, its models, systems, processes and elements and then imitates or takes creative inspiration from them to solve human problems sustainably.

Research Facilities

The laboratory is well equipped to study the mechanics of locomotion in marine invertebrates, with a Dantec P.I.V. System and 1000 Hz high-speed video camera. We have designed and built an underwater treadmill for behavioural observations of walking invertebrates and a computer-controlled robotic system for studies modelling limb mechanics. We also are well equipped to measure the dynamic physical properties of soft tissues, with several Cambridge Technology Muscle Lever Systems, with a variety of LabView based control systems. The laboratory also contains a Video Dimension Analyzer and a variety of video-based recording technology. The laboratory is setup with a Leitz Polarizing photomicroscope, with capability of making quantitative measurements of birefringence.