The Westerman Lab joined over 1,000 attendees, from a record number of countries, at the virtual Animal Behavior Society annual meeting July 28-31. Postdoc Dave Ernst, graduate student Sushant Potdar, and recent graduate Gabby Agcaoili gave excellent talks, and the lab bonded via virtual breakfasts and dinners. One of the highlights of the virtual platform Read More …
Our study of male mate preference learning in Heliconious butterflies, lead by undergraduate researchers Peyton Rather (UARK ’18) and Abby Herzog (UARK ’18) is now available as a preprint on bioRxiv. Check out their exciting research here!
Check out postdoc Dave Ernst’s recent publication “Pulse magnetization elicits differential gene expression in the central nervous system of the Caribbean spiny lobster, Panulirus argus“, in the Journal of Comparative Physiology A! Congratulations on a very cool study identifying numerous genes, including some seemingly unrelated to sensory processes, that are differentially expressed in response to Read More …
As a result of a NSF sponsored Reintegrating Biology Workshop, Erica teamed up with Sarah Bowman of the Hauptman-Woodward Medical Institute, Brad Davidson of Swarthmore College, Marcus Davis of James Madison University, Eric Larson of the University of Illinois, Urbana, and Chris Sanford of Kennesaw State University to write an integrative perspective on how biologists Read More …
Many congratulations to our fantastic seniors, Gabby Agcaoili, Braden Shipman, Mallory Kim, and Kierstan Taylor!! We wish you the best on your future adventures. You will be missed.
Five members of the Westerman lab, senior Braden Shipman, and graduate students Grace Hirzel, Matt Murphy, Sushant Potdar, and Yiting Ter, presented their research at a virtual Marine Ecology mini-Symposium April 9th, 2020. Coordinated by Dr. Jenn Dijkstra of the University of New Hampshire, as a way to facilitate research presentations by students who would Read More …
Yiting Ter joined the Westerman Lab in January, 2020, after completing her B.S. in Life Sciences at the National University of Singapore. Yiting conducted her undergraduate research on B. anynana behavioral genetics with Antónia Monteiro, and is looking forward to expanding her behavioral genomics skill set during her PhD. We are delighted to have her Read More …
This year a record number of undergraduates in the Westerman Lab applied for, and were awarded, research fellowships. Braden Shipman received a Arkansas Department of Higher Education SURF (Student Undergraduate Research Fellowship) for his research on the effect of the thermocline on gene expression in invasive ascidians. Abby Merrill received an Honors College Research Grant Read More …
Lab graduate Nikki Robertson’s MSc research on the lack of filial recognition in Bicyclus anynana, “Lack of sibling avoidance during mate selection in the butterfly Bicyclus anynana“ was published in Behavioural Processes today! Congratulations Nikki, and to co-author Tim Sullivan, a former postdoc in the lab, on their hard work! Check out Robertson et al., Read More …
Many congratulations to graduate student Sushant Potdar for receiving a Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology (SICB) Grants-in-Aid of Research (GIAR) Award, for his proposal “Learning-induced brain gene expression in allopatric morphs of Heliconius melpomene“!
