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 2024 (updated 29 August):
29 August 2024: The lab is thrilled to publish Emily Setton's dissertation work on a new gene that patterns the spider waist in PLoS Biology! The lab has officially discovered and named its first gene--say hello to waist-less! Check it out here!
26 August 2024: Welcome to Tom Coyne, a new Ph.D. student in the lab! Tom joined us in the early summer to get his feet wet in arachnid development.
6 May 2024: Many congratulations to Kaitlyn Abshire on completing her qualifying and preliminary exams! Next stop: Woods Hole MBL!!
12 May 2024: The lab is delighted to publish the first higher-level molecular phylogeny of Amblypygi (whip spiders)! This international collaboration was precipitated by the discovery of a relictual lineage of whip spiders that had not been collected in over a century. Check it out here!
6 May 2024: Many congratulations to Benjamin C. Klementz, who passed his qualifying and preliminary exams with flying colors!
19 April 2024: Congratulations to our undergraduate Ethan Laumer, who won the prestigious Hilldale Research Fellowship from UW-Madison! This award will support Ethan's research on the evolution of the Pax gene family in daddy-longlegs this summer.
25 March 2024: Guilherme's work on harvestman eye evolution is featured in an on-air interview on Wisconsin Public Radio and on the cover of Current Biology! What a rush!
1 March 2024: The lab is charmed to see Guilherme's work on harvestman eye evolution featured in UW-Madison News and in The New York Times!! Congratulations to everyone involved in the work!
23 February 2024: The lab exults today in publishing the discovery that living daddy-longlegs have six eyes, a finding with profound implications for harvestman fossils, phylogeny, molecular dating, and arthropod eye evolution writ large. Congratulations Guilherme Gainett and other students who led this work. Check it out here!
10 January 2024: Many, many congratulations to Dr. Siddharth Kulkarni, who has been awarded a prestigious and highly selective Ramanujan Fellowship!! This pathway-to-independence award will enable Siddharth to establish a new research group at a university in India through support from the central government of India. Check it out here!
7 January 2024: The whole lab attended the annual Society of Integrative and Comparative Biology meeting in Seattle! We saw some excellent talks, encountered new and thought-provoking directions for research, and got into a raucous and viscerally fun debate with Mark Martindale. This year, Prashant takes over as Chair of the Division of Evolutionary Developmental Biology.
29 August 2024: The lab is thrilled to publish Emily Setton's dissertation work on a new gene that patterns the spider waist in PLoS Biology! The lab has officially discovered and named its first gene--say hello to waist-less! Check it out here!
26 August 2024: Welcome to Tom Coyne, a new Ph.D. student in the lab! Tom joined us in the early summer to get his feet wet in arachnid development.
6 May 2024: Many congratulations to Kaitlyn Abshire on completing her qualifying and preliminary exams! Next stop: Woods Hole MBL!!
12 May 2024: The lab is delighted to publish the first higher-level molecular phylogeny of Amblypygi (whip spiders)! This international collaboration was precipitated by the discovery of a relictual lineage of whip spiders that had not been collected in over a century. Check it out here!
6 May 2024: Many congratulations to Benjamin C. Klementz, who passed his qualifying and preliminary exams with flying colors!
19 April 2024: Congratulations to our undergraduate Ethan Laumer, who won the prestigious Hilldale Research Fellowship from UW-Madison! This award will support Ethan's research on the evolution of the Pax gene family in daddy-longlegs this summer.
25 March 2024: Guilherme's work on harvestman eye evolution is featured in an on-air interview on Wisconsin Public Radio and on the cover of Current Biology! What a rush!
1 March 2024: The lab is charmed to see Guilherme's work on harvestman eye evolution featured in UW-Madison News and in The New York Times!! Congratulations to everyone involved in the work!
23 February 2024: The lab exults today in publishing the discovery that living daddy-longlegs have six eyes, a finding with profound implications for harvestman fossils, phylogeny, molecular dating, and arthropod eye evolution writ large. Congratulations Guilherme Gainett and other students who led this work. Check it out here!
10 January 2024: Many, many congratulations to Dr. Siddharth Kulkarni, who has been awarded a prestigious and highly selective Ramanujan Fellowship!! This pathway-to-independence award will enable Siddharth to establish a new research group at a university in India through support from the central government of India. Check it out here!
7 January 2024: The whole lab attended the annual Society of Integrative and Comparative Biology meeting in Seattle! We saw some excellent talks, encountered new and thought-provoking directions for research, and got into a raucous and viscerally fun debate with Mark Martindale. This year, Prashant takes over as Chair of the Division of Evolutionary Developmental Biology.