Michael Coates

Departmental website:
http://pondside.uchicago.edu/oba/faculty/coates_m.html

Michael Coates is interested in vertebrate evolution, especially the origins of ray-finned fishes, the ancient relatives of the vast majority of fishes swimming the seas today. He co-described Acanthostega, a 360-million-year-old fossil exhibiting characteristics of both fish and amphibians, and has published extensively on the evolution of limbs from fins.

Prof. Coates studies the deep evolutionary origins of sharks, of which little is known. He also works with molecular biologists to integrate molecular and fossil data, which yield different branching dates in the evolutionary tree of life, and with developmental biologists to understand how fossils inform questions about the evolution of organismal development. He is co-founder and deputy editor of the journal Evolution and Development.

Michael Coates

  • Title: Professor in Organismal Biology & Anatomy
  • Education: PhD, BSc, University of Newcastle Upon Tyne
  • Joined UChicago faculty: 2001
  • mcoates@uchicago.edu

Media Contacts

Alison Caldwell, PhD

Senior Science Writer, University of Chicago Medical Center

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Expertise

Sharks

Coates Stories

Nine University of Chicago scholars named 2021 AAAS fellows View of snow-covered plants on UChicago's campus, with Foster Hall in the background

Nine University of Chicago scholars named 2021 AAAS fellows

Long-accepted theory of vertebrate origin upended by lamprey fossils An artist's rendering of a yolk-sac-carrying hatchling of the stem lamprey Priscomyzon riniensis.

Long-accepted theory of vertebrate origin upended by lamprey fossils

Celebrating a half-century of revolutionary scientific research David Jablonski and Trevor Price

Celebrating a half-century of revolutionary scientific research

3-D reconstructions show how ancient sharks found an alternative way to feed Tristychius 3-D Model

3-D reconstructions show how ancient sharks found an alternative way to feed

Fossilized slime of ancient eel-like creature shakes up vertebrate family tree Thumbnail

Fossilized slime of ancient eel-like creature shakes up vertebrate family tree

Mass Shark Extinction Triggered by Dinosaur-Killing Asteroid Mass Shark Extinction Triggered by Dinosaur-Killing Asteroid

Mass Shark Extinction Triggered by Dinosaur-Killing Asteroid


Sharks, humans shared common ancestor 440 million years ago

Sharks, humans shared common ancestor 440 million years ago


United Press International (UPI)

Study of ancient fossil complicates the shark family tree Gladbachus adentatus

Study of ancient fossil complicates the shark family tree

Common Ancestor of Sharks and Humans Lived 440 Million Years Ago

Common Ancestor of Sharks and Humans Lived 440 Million Years Ago


Live Science

280 million-year-old fossil reveals evolutionary origins of shark-like fishes Thumbnail

280 million-year-old fossil reveals evolutionary origins of shark-like fishes