Ophelia and Professor Wissa present click beetle work at SICB in Tampa, FL

Earlier  this month, graduate student Ophelia Bolmin and Professor Wissa  traveled to Tampa, FL to present ongoing work on the clicking mechanism  of click beetles at the 2019 Society of Integrative and Comparative  Biology (SICB)  Annual Meeting. Ophelia presented novel synchrotron x-ray footage  showing the internal latch mechanism of the click beetle, and Professor  Wissa gave an overview of how the hinge morphology and mechanics enables  this unique clicking mechanism. Together, they participated in an  excellent workshop organized by Sheila Patek entitled “Principles and  analysis of small, high acceleration systems in biology and synthetic  systems” and expanded their knowledge of biological power amplified  systems. Both had a wonderful time and are looking forward to attending  next year’s SICB meeting.