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Dr. Natasha Mhatre, PI & chief worrier, Assistant Professor & CRC in Invertebrate Neurobiology, Department of Biology, Western University.

We study mechanosensory systems. We also occasionally study the signalling end of the same systems. But what   I   really do is hope, fondly (and perhaps, crazily) that we can, for at least this small corner of biology, develop the sort of experimentally testable and tested, philosophical, theoretical and predictive framework that physics has managed. I acknowledge that I may have physics, or worse, maths envy. Worse still, I may still be hoping to earn the Ph part of my PhD.  I think of this extension of this xkcd comic often.

PS: Here's how you say my second name!

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Dr. Erin Brandt, Western Postdoctoral fellow
Dr. Erin Brandt is a postdoc in the Mhatre lab, starting in September 2019. She is broadly interested in sexual selection, thermal biology, and the mechanistic bases of behavior. Dr. Brandt graduated with her Ph.D. in Environmental Science, Policy and Management from UC Berkeley in 2019. She conducted her dissertation work in the Elias Lab, focusing on how temperature impacts sexual behavior, physiology, and movement ecology in jumping spiders. Her work in the Mhatre lab examines  the relationship between temperature, movement, and perception in spider sensory organs.   
Grad students
Hossein Asgari is a PhD candidate in the Mhatre lab. He has studied MSc Sports Engineering at Sheffield Hallam University. His dissertation focused on biomechanics where he analyzed movement patterns and kinematics of a wide range of runners obtained from an IMU mounted on the sacrum. His research interests in the Mhatre lab involve studying the biomechanics of spiders and capturing/analyzing their movements.
Reese Gartly is a Masters student in the lab exploring how leg and body morphology impacts spider mechanorecpetion. Outside of the lab she enjoys playing hockey, reading and being outdoors exploring everything she can!
Mika Little is a Masters student in the lab investigating vibration filtering and damping in spider leg joints. In his free time Mika enjoys reading, drawing, and playing music on the drums and ukulele.
Undergrads
Gabriella Simonelli is a fourth-year undergraduate student completing an Integrated Science honours specialization in Biology. She has interests in human and animal physiology and is currently in the process of applying to medical school. In the Mhatre Lab, she is working on an undergraduate thesis, aimed at analyzing the validity of using old specimens to investigate the vibrational properties of field cricket wings. Using Laser-Doppler Vibrometry (LDV) she will be studying how post mortem wing desiccation changes vibration patterns. Outside of academics, her interests include soccer, volleyball, painting, and she is a member of the HEAT dance team here at Western.
Mackenzie Joa-Ladd is a third year undergraduate completing an honours specialization in Animal Behaviour. She has a strong interest in wildlife conservation and has previous experience in wildlife rehabilitation and care with a focus on sloths, monkeys and avians. Outside of her studies she enjoys reading, caring for houseplants, bird watching, and being outdoors.
Updates soon

Alumni

Zainab Zahra (USRI fellow 23-24)
Wendi Zhang (USRI fellow, 23-24)
Ryan Weiner (USRI fellow and Undergraduate thesis student, 22-23)
Mouad Elganga (Research Assistant, Summer 22)
Lachlan Fisher (USRI fellow, Summer 22)
Aryan Sadghian (USRI fellow, Summer 22)
Kofi Brako (Research Assistant, Fall & Winter 21-22)
Muzammil Ahmed ((Research Assistant, Winter & Summer 21-22)
Yoshan Sasiharan (Research Assistant, USRI fellow, 20-22)
Hiba Elhassan (Undergraduate thesis student, 21-22)
Sarah Duke (Research Assistant, and Undergraduate thesis student, 20-21)
Carolyn Xin (Undergraduate thesis student, 19-20)
Anastassia Mena (Undergraduate thesis student, 20-21)
Linda Wang (Research Assistant, 2019-2020)
Morteza Al Rabya (Research Assistant, 2020-2021)
Nancy Kim (Database engineer and Research Assistant, 2021)
Matthew Nadarajah (Database engineer and Research Assistant, 21-22)
Daniel Xie (Research Assistant, 21-22)