Personnel
"And, just like with the frigid weather in a Wisconsin winter, there are those who will flee from it, trying to hide in warmer havens elsewhere. Others, however, accept and even delight in the omnipresent cold; these are the ones who buy the right gear and bravely take full advantage of all the wonders of a challenging climate."
Ronald L. Wasserstein, Allen L. Schirm, Nicole A. Lazar (The American Statistician 73:1-19.)
Ronald L. Wasserstein, Allen L. Schirm, Nicole A. Lazar (The American Statistician 73:1-19.)
Principal Investigator:
Prashant P. Sharma (CV - May 2024)
Associate Professor of Integrative Biology
Faculty Director of the Zoological Museum, UW-Madison
Prashant P. Sharma (CV - May 2024)
Associate Professor of Integrative Biology
Faculty Director of the Zoological Museum, UW-Madison
Research Personnel:
Erika Garcia
Fulbright Scholar and NSF postdoctoral fellow
Starting Fall 2024
Fulbright Scholar and NSF postdoctoral fellow
Starting Fall 2024
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Benjamin C. Klementz
PhD student (iBio program) |
Kaitlyn M. Abshire
PhD student (iBio program) |
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Jo Jo Sardina
Ph.D. student (Genetics training program) |
Tom Coyne
Ph.D. student (iBio program) |
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Ethan Laumer
Undergraduate assistant 
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Sophie Neu
Post-baccalaureate research technician 
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Visitors to the lab
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Luis Baudouin González
Oxford Brookes University, McGregor Lab Visiting PhD student, spring 2017 |
Shlomi Aharon
Hebrew University-Jerusalem, Gavish-Regev Lab Visiting PhD student, summer 2019 |
Nancy Lo Man Hung
University of Sao Paulo, Torres Lab FAPESP PhD fellow, 2019-2021 
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Lab alumni
Postdoctoral
Siddharth S. Kulkarni (2022-2024): Siddharth's projects focused on filling outsized gaps in our understanding of higher-level arachnid phylogeny. He produced the first molecular phylogenies spanning the orders Amblypygi and Solifugae, the last arachnid groups that were critically lacking broader taxonomic sampling in molecular datasets to test an older generation of morphological hypotheses. As a winner of the prestigious Ramanujan Fellowship, he has started a research group in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala (India) as a junior group leader (tenure track).
Caitlin M. Baker (2020-2022): During her time in the lab, Caitlin generated genomic datasets to investigate population genomics and species delimitation of Israeli cave arachnofauna, with the aim of biodiversity discovery and deciphering patterns of gene flow between cave sites. She has since transitioned to a role in the private sector with the firm Performance Architects, Inc.
Jesús A. Ballesteros (2017-2021): A Guyer postdoctoral fellow, Jesús implemented cutting-edge approaches for analyses of genome-scale datasets for resolving various parts of chelicerate phylogeny. The mainstay of his work focused on the relationships of the marine chelicerates (horseshoe crabs and sea spiders). He is currently an Assistant Professor of Biology at Kean University.
Carlos Santibáñez E. López (2016-2018): As a CONACYT postdoctoral fellow, Carlos spearheaded efforts to understand the phylogenomic relationships of scorpions, with the goal of characterizing the evolutionary dynamics of scorpion venoms. He is currently an Assistant Professor of Biology at Western Connecticut State University.
Graduate
Emily Setton (2018-2023): A Ph.D. student in the iBio graduate program, Emily's thesis focused on body plan evolution in chelicerates, with an emphasis on spiders. Currently a postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of Leslie Babonis at Cornell University.
Guilherme Gainett (2017-2023): A Ph.D. student in the iBio graduate program, Guilherme's thesis focused on the evo-devo of chelicerate sensory biology. Currently a postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of Marcos Simoes Costa at Harvard Medical School.
Andrew Z. Ontano (2016-2021): A Ph.D. student in the iBio graduate program, Andrew's thesis focused on integrating different sources of data as solutions to long branch attraction. Currently a bioinformatician for the Agricultural Research Service (ARS).
Holly Cho (2016-2017): Masters student in the Cellular and Molecular Biology program. She is currently pursuing a career in science journalism.
Undergraduate
(asterisks indicate first authored publications)
*Emily V.W. Setton (2015-2017). See above.
Savana M. Lipps (2016-2017) was a research assistant who worked on imaging harvestmen specimens for a project on systematics and Southeast Asian biogeography. She is currently a Ph.D. student at the University of Minnesota.
*Erik D. Nolan (2016-2017) was a senior honors thesis student in my lab and worked on the embryology of scorpions. His senior thesis made use of developmental gene expression as a phylogenetic data class. He is currently a Ph.D. student at Washington University of St. Louis.
*Stephanie M. Schmidt (2016-2018) joined the lab through the Biology 152 independent research module. She worked in the lab on taxonomy and systematics of harvestman from Mindanao, Philippines. She is currently a Masters student at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
*Logan E. March (2016-2018) was an undergraduate research assistant who joined the lab through the Biology 152 independent research module. His project focused on the regulation of a distal antennal selector in insects. He is currently attended law school at Loyola Chicago.
Rachel M. Smaby (2017-2019) was an undergraduate research assistant who joined the lab through the Biology 152 independent research module. Her project focused on the regulation of a distal antennal selector in insects. She is currently a Masters student in the GIS program at East Carolina Univerisity.
Calvin So (2017) was a summer research assistant who worked on collecting and imaging harvestman embryos. He is currently a Ph.D. student at George Washington University.
Audrey R. Crawford (2017-2018) was a research assistant who worked on imaging and sequencing harvestmen. She is currently a Ph.D. student in Museum Studies at Kansas University.
Keyton Friske (2018) was a summer research assistant who worked on imaging and sequencing harvestmen. He is currently an assistant research scientist with PPD Laboratories.
Paula Thuo (2018) was an undergraduate research assistant who worked on imaging spider embryos.
Mahad Siad (2018-2019) was an undergraduate research assistant who worked on gene silencing in insects. He is currently in an MD program at UW-Madison.
John M. Zern (2019) was an undergraduate research assistant who joined the lab through the Biology 152 independent research module. His project addressed gene silencing in spiders. He is currently bound for business school.
Jakob T. Zehms (2019-2021) was an undergraduate research assistant who worked on gene silencing in insects and bioinformatics across Arthropoda. He is currently attending medical school at the Medical College of Wisconsin.
Leonardo Barolo Gargiulo (2019-2021) was an undergraduate research assistant who worked on gene silencing and leg development in the harvestman. He is now in a Masters program in scientific illustration.
Kevin F. Corbett (2019-2020) was an undergraduate research assistant who joined the lab through the Biology 152 independent research module. His project addressed bioinformatics in sea spiders. He is currently a software engineer for Epic Systems.
Andy Rukavina (2021) was an undergraduate research assistant who worked on gene expression assays in the cobweb spider. He is currently enrolled in dental school.
*Hugh G. Steiner (2021-2023) was an undergraduate research assistant and later post-baccalaureate technician who worked on species delimitation using machine learning tools in the spider genus Tegenaria. Currently working at Epic Systems.
Siddharth S. Kulkarni (2022-2024): Siddharth's projects focused on filling outsized gaps in our understanding of higher-level arachnid phylogeny. He produced the first molecular phylogenies spanning the orders Amblypygi and Solifugae, the last arachnid groups that were critically lacking broader taxonomic sampling in molecular datasets to test an older generation of morphological hypotheses. As a winner of the prestigious Ramanujan Fellowship, he has started a research group in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala (India) as a junior group leader (tenure track).
Caitlin M. Baker (2020-2022): During her time in the lab, Caitlin generated genomic datasets to investigate population genomics and species delimitation of Israeli cave arachnofauna, with the aim of biodiversity discovery and deciphering patterns of gene flow between cave sites. She has since transitioned to a role in the private sector with the firm Performance Architects, Inc.
Jesús A. Ballesteros (2017-2021): A Guyer postdoctoral fellow, Jesús implemented cutting-edge approaches for analyses of genome-scale datasets for resolving various parts of chelicerate phylogeny. The mainstay of his work focused on the relationships of the marine chelicerates (horseshoe crabs and sea spiders). He is currently an Assistant Professor of Biology at Kean University.
Carlos Santibáñez E. López (2016-2018): As a CONACYT postdoctoral fellow, Carlos spearheaded efforts to understand the phylogenomic relationships of scorpions, with the goal of characterizing the evolutionary dynamics of scorpion venoms. He is currently an Assistant Professor of Biology at Western Connecticut State University.
Graduate
Emily Setton (2018-2023): A Ph.D. student in the iBio graduate program, Emily's thesis focused on body plan evolution in chelicerates, with an emphasis on spiders. Currently a postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of Leslie Babonis at Cornell University.
Guilherme Gainett (2017-2023): A Ph.D. student in the iBio graduate program, Guilherme's thesis focused on the evo-devo of chelicerate sensory biology. Currently a postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of Marcos Simoes Costa at Harvard Medical School.
Andrew Z. Ontano (2016-2021): A Ph.D. student in the iBio graduate program, Andrew's thesis focused on integrating different sources of data as solutions to long branch attraction. Currently a bioinformatician for the Agricultural Research Service (ARS).
Holly Cho (2016-2017): Masters student in the Cellular and Molecular Biology program. She is currently pursuing a career in science journalism.
Undergraduate
(asterisks indicate first authored publications)
*Emily V.W. Setton (2015-2017). See above.
Savana M. Lipps (2016-2017) was a research assistant who worked on imaging harvestmen specimens for a project on systematics and Southeast Asian biogeography. She is currently a Ph.D. student at the University of Minnesota.
*Erik D. Nolan (2016-2017) was a senior honors thesis student in my lab and worked on the embryology of scorpions. His senior thesis made use of developmental gene expression as a phylogenetic data class. He is currently a Ph.D. student at Washington University of St. Louis.
*Stephanie M. Schmidt (2016-2018) joined the lab through the Biology 152 independent research module. She worked in the lab on taxonomy and systematics of harvestman from Mindanao, Philippines. She is currently a Masters student at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
*Logan E. March (2016-2018) was an undergraduate research assistant who joined the lab through the Biology 152 independent research module. His project focused on the regulation of a distal antennal selector in insects. He is currently attended law school at Loyola Chicago.
Rachel M. Smaby (2017-2019) was an undergraduate research assistant who joined the lab through the Biology 152 independent research module. Her project focused on the regulation of a distal antennal selector in insects. She is currently a Masters student in the GIS program at East Carolina Univerisity.
Calvin So (2017) was a summer research assistant who worked on collecting and imaging harvestman embryos. He is currently a Ph.D. student at George Washington University.
Audrey R. Crawford (2017-2018) was a research assistant who worked on imaging and sequencing harvestmen. She is currently a Ph.D. student in Museum Studies at Kansas University.
Keyton Friske (2018) was a summer research assistant who worked on imaging and sequencing harvestmen. He is currently an assistant research scientist with PPD Laboratories.
Paula Thuo (2018) was an undergraduate research assistant who worked on imaging spider embryos.
Mahad Siad (2018-2019) was an undergraduate research assistant who worked on gene silencing in insects. He is currently in an MD program at UW-Madison.
John M. Zern (2019) was an undergraduate research assistant who joined the lab through the Biology 152 independent research module. His project addressed gene silencing in spiders. He is currently bound for business school.
Jakob T. Zehms (2019-2021) was an undergraduate research assistant who worked on gene silencing in insects and bioinformatics across Arthropoda. He is currently attending medical school at the Medical College of Wisconsin.
Leonardo Barolo Gargiulo (2019-2021) was an undergraduate research assistant who worked on gene silencing and leg development in the harvestman. He is now in a Masters program in scientific illustration.
Kevin F. Corbett (2019-2020) was an undergraduate research assistant who joined the lab through the Biology 152 independent research module. His project addressed bioinformatics in sea spiders. He is currently a software engineer for Epic Systems.
Andy Rukavina (2021) was an undergraduate research assistant who worked on gene expression assays in the cobweb spider. He is currently enrolled in dental school.
*Hugh G. Steiner (2021-2023) was an undergraduate research assistant and later post-baccalaureate technician who worked on species delimitation using machine learning tools in the spider genus Tegenaria. Currently working at Epic Systems.
Note: I periodically look for lab personnel at undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral levels. Interested in joining the lab? Click here.