We are proudly international!

Team

David Labonte

Principal Investigator

Keeping everyone motivated

Domna-Maria Kaimaki

Postdoctoral Researcher

The function of the pad secretion in insects

Tanel Lorand

PhD Student | Co-supervised with Naomi Nakayama

Plant responses to mechanic stimuli

Frederik Püffel

PhD Student

The biomechanics of herbivory in leaf-cutter ants

Fabian Plum

PhD Student

Computer vision & machine learning for insect behaviour

Ki Woong (Victor) Kang

Postdoctoral Researcher

Mechanics and energetics of insect herbivores

Ginny Greenway

Visiting Postdoctoral Researcher | Christine Miller's lab

Biomechanics of insect limb loss

Andrea Attipoe

PhD Student

The physics behind insect adhesion

Liv Walthaus

PhD Student

The energetics of herbivory in leaf-cutter ants

Natalie Imirzian

Postdoctoral Researcher

Behavioural biomechanics of herbivorous insects

MEng, MSc and MRes students

Hendrik Beck

MRes Student

Haaris Asghar

MEng final year student

Charlotte Andrew

MEng final year student

Long (Jeffrey) Leung

MEng final year student

Samuel Yeadon

MEng final year student

Undergraduate and Summer Students

Ciara Gibbs

UROP student | Department of Bioengineering

Lara Mayer

Visiting Student | Hochschule Bremen

Anaya Pouget

UROP student | Department of Bioengineering

Ioana Esanu

UROP student | Department of Bioengineering

Collaborators

Mattia Bacca
Assistant Professor in Mechanical Engineering | University of British Columbia | Canada | Website

Christofer J Clemente
Senior Lecturer in Animal Ecophysiology | University of the Sunshine Coast | Australia | Website

Natalie C Holt
Assistant Professor in Muscle Physiology | UCR | USA | Website

Walter Federle
Reader in Comparative Biomechanics | University of Cambridge | United Kingdom | Website

Richard Johnston
Associate Professor in the Materials Research Centre | Swansea University | UK Website

Severin Dressen
Director | Zoological Garden Zürich | Switzerland

Marleen Kamperman
Professor of Polymer Science | University of Groningen | Netherlands | Website

Benjamin Jarrett
Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellow | Lind University | Sweden | Website

Jörg Müssig
Professor for Biological Materials | City University of Applied Sciences | Germany Website

Jamie Booth
Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering | CSUN | USA | Website

Dominic Vella
Professor in Applied Mathematics | University of Oxford | United Kingdom Website

Previous Members

Alumni

Aurélie Levillain | Postdoc Went on to a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellowship at Ecole Centrale Lyon

Former Undergraduate and Postgraduate Students

Haaris Asghar
UROP | Department of Bioengineering

Theo Humbeeck
UROP | Department of Bioengineering

Gaurav Seth
Summer Student | Indian Institute of Technology, B.H.U.

Nathan Robins
UROP | Department of Bioengineering

Gaspard Oliviers
UROP | Department of Bioengineering

Eleni Papafilippou
UROP | Department of Bioengineering

Franka Nauert
Visiting student | Hochschule Bremen

Jonas Bünning
Visiting student | Hochschule Bremen

Océane Duvert
Visiting student | Université de Montpellier

Hong (Conrad) Lee
MSc Student (2020)

Junning Li
MEng Student (2020)

Myrta Stoukidi | went on to work for BIOS
MEng Student (2018)

Kevin Wang
UROP | Department of Bioengineering

Joshua Ramkissoon
MEng Student (2020)

Eleanor Dobson
MEng Student (2020)

Yongqi Diao
UROP| Department of Bioengineering

Xinyue Liu
UROP| Department of Bioengineering