Lab members

Principle investigator

Sangeet Lamichhaney

Associate Professor

Research interest: Molecular and Evolutionary Biology.

Education and training:

Wenner-Gren Fellow, (2017-2020), Harvard University.
PhD (Evolutionary Genomics), 2012 – 2016, Uppsala University, Sweden.
Msc (Animal Breeding and Genetics), 2011, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Sweden.
Msc (Animal Breeding and Genetics), 2010, Wageningen University, The Netherlands.
BVSC & AH, 2003 – 2008, Tribhuwan University, Nepal.
Google scholar

Graduate Students

Trixie Taucher

Melia Romine

Trixie completed her undergraduate studies in Zoology from Kent State University. Currently in our lab, she is studying molecular processes associated with seasonal differences in the local bird populations using transcriptomics and metabolomics approaches for her PhD thesis.

Prashant Ghimire

Melia Romine

Prashant did his undergraduate studies from Nepal, where he worked on how anthropogenic factors, season, and habitat type influences the foraging behavior of Asian Woollyneck (Ciconia episcopus) in a human dominated landscape. Currently in our lab, he is studying molecular processes associated with high-altitude adaptation for his PhD thesis.

Personal website

Aarati Basnet

Melia Romine

Aarati completed her master’s degree in Applied Ecology and Conservation Biology from Frostburg State University, Maryland. In our lab, she is studying avian vampire fly (Philornis downsi), an invasive species that parasitizes the nests of Darwin’s finches in the Galápagos.

Dominique Costarella

Melia Romine

Dominique completed her BS in Neuroscience from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Her research in the OMICS lab focuses on the genetic and phenotypic diversity of invasive purple loosestrife. Outside of lab, she enjoys hiking, painting, traveling, and taking care of her plants!

Macey Mills

Melia Romine

Macey completed her undergraduate studies at Muskingum University with a degree in Biology and in Art. She has spent the last few years working in wetland and stream delineations and completed an undergrad research fellowship focused on relationships between grassland birds and invasive shrubs. Currently her research in the lab focuses on characterizing the anthropogenic impacts of avian biodiversity in wetlands.

Visiting Researcher

Dr. Nishma Dahal

Melia Romine

Dr. Dahal is an Assistant Professor at CSIR-Institute of Himalayan BioResource Technology in India. Her broad research interest lies in understanding the build-up of Himalayan biodiversity and the response of biota to climatic fluctuations. Her research journey began with pikas, small alpine mammals that serve as sentinels of environmental change, and they have remained a central focus of her work. More recently, she has begun to study Redstarts as a model to understand the complex role of behavior, physiology, and genetics in their distribution across a wide elevation range. Her research goal is to understand fundamental questions related to the distribution and maintenance of biodiversity by integrating knowledge from a species’ natural history, physiology, and genetics. These fundamental questions are critical in understanding their response to future climate change.

Hao Meng

Melia Romine

Hao is a doctoral student from China and is currently a visiting scholar in our laboratory. He enjoys studying rare genomic variations across multiple populations and exploring these variations’ characteristics and roles in the evolutionary processes of species. In our lab, he is currently conducting genomic research on the Helan Mountains pika.

UnderGraduate Research Assistants