Dr Jasmine Nirody

I'm interested in the physics of how organisms move through and navigate complex environments. Modern biomechanics is in a really exciting place because we finally have the experimental and mathematical tools to develop a larger understanding of the natural world: past, present, and future. Understanding how a motile organism interacts with its environment can provide insight into the evolutionary history of its design, as well as into design principles for the development of bioinspired synthetic systems. The aim of my research is to (try to!) understand physical principles behind natural mechanical design, as well as how and why variation (either through plasticity of a single unit or population-level variability) arises and persists in biomechanical systems. I use both theoretical and empirical (laboratory + field) methods, and have worked on a variety of systems, from proteins to bacteria to geckos.