DEPARTMENT OF INTEGRATIVE BIOLOGY
SHARMA LAB
SHARMA LAB
Welcome to the Sharma Lab! Our research broadly addresses macroevolution of invertebrates through the lenses of phylogenetics, genomics, and comparative development, with emphasis on chelicerate arthropods.
This body of work integrates three avenues of inquiry:
(1) How is biodiversity distributed through time and space?
(2) What are the genetic mechanisms that underlie body plan evolution?
(3) How does the integration of phylogenetic data classes resolve challenging parts of the tree of life?
This body of work integrates three avenues of inquiry:
(1) How is biodiversity distributed through time and space?
(2) What are the genetic mechanisms that underlie body plan evolution?
(3) How does the integration of phylogenetic data classes resolve challenging parts of the tree of life?
Lab News & Events 2023 (updated 18 October):
12 October: Kaitlyn Abshire led our lab's participation in the UW Madison Science Expo, a science outreach event held at Madison East High School.
29 September: Prashant Sharma is enormously grateful to Nipam Patel and his lab at Woods Hole MBL for hosting the first of his research visits! Prashant continues his work this year at the MBL as part of his Whitman Fellowship.
1 September: Congratulations to Dr. Siddharth S. Kulkarni, who published the first phylogenetic tree of Solifugae! This investigation of camel spider relationships brought together numerous labs and experts from around the world, and established two new suborders of arachnids. Check it out here!
28 August: The lab bids a bittersweet farewell to two newly minted experts in arthropod evo-devo, who leave Madison this week to start postdoctoral fellowships. Dr. Guilherme Gainett will be joining the laboratory of Marcos Sawada Simões Costa at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Emily V.W. Setton will be joining the laboratory of Leslie Babonis at Cornell University. Congratulations and best wishes!
5 August: Many congratulations to Kaitlyn Abshire on winning the Constance Boone Award for best student presentation at the American Malacology Society! This was Kaitlyn's first scientific congress--setting the bar high!
2 August: Kaitlyn Abshire presents her research this week at the American Malacology Society meeting in the University of Alabama! Her work addresses the embryology of land snails.
28 July: Many, many congratulations to Dr. Emily Setton, who successfully defended her Ph.D. thesis dissertation!
19 May: Deepest congratulations to Dr. Guilherme Gainett, who successfully defended his Ph.D. thesis dissertation! And special thanks to Gonzalo Giribet, Guilherme's external committee member, who attended the defense in person.
16 May: Congratulations to Benjamin Klementz on receiving the Oscar and Jan Franke ISA student research grant! This award supports Ben's research on the evolutionary origins of the patella in chelicerates.
2 May: Congratulations to Kaitlyn Abshire on receiving the Dee Saunders Dundee Memorial student research grant from the American Malacological Society! This award supports Kaitlyn's research on the development of land snails.
7 April: Many congratulations to Benjamin Klementz on winning both the Rita and Kenneth Hoots Graduate Student Scholarship, as well as the William C. Burns and Lemuel A. Fraser Teaching Enrichment Scholarship! Check it out here.
20 March: Prashant Sharma is deeply honored to receive the prestigious Woods Hole MBL Whitman fellowship. This fellowship supports the development of advanced functional toolkits in the harvestman Phalangium opilio.
11 March: Many, many congratulations to Emily, Ben, Guilherme, and Hugh for giving excellent presentations at the ICA meeting in Uruguay. This year, undergraduate Hugh Steiner won a competitive ICA scholarship award and first-year Ph.D. student Ben Klementz won the first-place student oral presentation award!
4 March: We're off to Montevideo, Uruguay, for the International Congress of Arachnology! This year, Emily Setton (Ph.D. student), Ben Klementz (Ph.D. student), Guilherme Gainett (Ph.D. student), Hugh Steiner (undergraduate), and Prashant P. Sharma will be attending on behalf of our lab.
2 February: Prashant Sharma is honored and overjoyed to receive the Class of 1955 Excellence in Teaching Award! With features in the Badger Herald and UW News.
7 January: The lab very much enjoyed attending SICB 2023 in Austin! Congratulations especially to Jo Jo Sardina, who attended his first scientific conference and gave an excellent poster on fungus-farming ant development! And bonus--fun times collecting palpigrades and opilioacariforms in the city's outskirts!
12 October: Kaitlyn Abshire led our lab's participation in the UW Madison Science Expo, a science outreach event held at Madison East High School.
29 September: Prashant Sharma is enormously grateful to Nipam Patel and his lab at Woods Hole MBL for hosting the first of his research visits! Prashant continues his work this year at the MBL as part of his Whitman Fellowship.
1 September: Congratulations to Dr. Siddharth S. Kulkarni, who published the first phylogenetic tree of Solifugae! This investigation of camel spider relationships brought together numerous labs and experts from around the world, and established two new suborders of arachnids. Check it out here!
28 August: The lab bids a bittersweet farewell to two newly minted experts in arthropod evo-devo, who leave Madison this week to start postdoctoral fellowships. Dr. Guilherme Gainett will be joining the laboratory of Marcos Sawada Simões Costa at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Emily V.W. Setton will be joining the laboratory of Leslie Babonis at Cornell University. Congratulations and best wishes!
5 August: Many congratulations to Kaitlyn Abshire on winning the Constance Boone Award for best student presentation at the American Malacology Society! This was Kaitlyn's first scientific congress--setting the bar high!
2 August: Kaitlyn Abshire presents her research this week at the American Malacology Society meeting in the University of Alabama! Her work addresses the embryology of land snails.
28 July: Many, many congratulations to Dr. Emily Setton, who successfully defended her Ph.D. thesis dissertation!
19 May: Deepest congratulations to Dr. Guilherme Gainett, who successfully defended his Ph.D. thesis dissertation! And special thanks to Gonzalo Giribet, Guilherme's external committee member, who attended the defense in person.
16 May: Congratulations to Benjamin Klementz on receiving the Oscar and Jan Franke ISA student research grant! This award supports Ben's research on the evolutionary origins of the patella in chelicerates.
2 May: Congratulations to Kaitlyn Abshire on receiving the Dee Saunders Dundee Memorial student research grant from the American Malacological Society! This award supports Kaitlyn's research on the development of land snails.
7 April: Many congratulations to Benjamin Klementz on winning both the Rita and Kenneth Hoots Graduate Student Scholarship, as well as the William C. Burns and Lemuel A. Fraser Teaching Enrichment Scholarship! Check it out here.
20 March: Prashant Sharma is deeply honored to receive the prestigious Woods Hole MBL Whitman fellowship. This fellowship supports the development of advanced functional toolkits in the harvestman Phalangium opilio.
11 March: Many, many congratulations to Emily, Ben, Guilherme, and Hugh for giving excellent presentations at the ICA meeting in Uruguay. This year, undergraduate Hugh Steiner won a competitive ICA scholarship award and first-year Ph.D. student Ben Klementz won the first-place student oral presentation award!
4 March: We're off to Montevideo, Uruguay, for the International Congress of Arachnology! This year, Emily Setton (Ph.D. student), Ben Klementz (Ph.D. student), Guilherme Gainett (Ph.D. student), Hugh Steiner (undergraduate), and Prashant P. Sharma will be attending on behalf of our lab.
2 February: Prashant Sharma is honored and overjoyed to receive the Class of 1955 Excellence in Teaching Award! With features in the Badger Herald and UW News.
7 January: The lab very much enjoyed attending SICB 2023 in Austin! Congratulations especially to Jo Jo Sardina, who attended his first scientific conference and gave an excellent poster on fungus-farming ant development! And bonus--fun times collecting palpigrades and opilioacariforms in the city's outskirts!