Dr Alana Sharp

Harry Gill first PhD paper is out, applying @deeplabcut.bsky.social to dog gait analyses ... and it worked pretty well :)
You can access the paper here:
authors.elsevier.com/c/1lXNEcF2Ow...
@cbrassey.bsky.social

Y’all!!! Our comparative anatomy textbook is out!!! Free, open access, and just in time for the fall semester!

📣evolutionary biomechanics job!
This sounds like a fun project on the skull of head-first burrowers, working in @ucl-c4ia.bsky.social

Here come the science sketchnotes from @sebiology.bsky.social Meeting in Antwerp this July! These are shared with the presenter's permission (but all mistakes, especially spelling, are mine).

First, @sharrison09.bsky.social on the jumping kinematics and power of monkey grasshoppers

📣I’m hiring!
Two weeks to apply for an October start.
Start date is also flexible.
#PhD #Morphology #evolution

Senior Scientist and Curator, Vertebrate Zoology |   Brisbane Inner City | The Senior Scientist and Curator, Vertebrate Zoology will undertake original research and collection development in a field of expertise relevant to terrestrial vertebrate zoology (i.e., herpetology, ...

Curator job available at Queensland Museum!
smartjobs.qld.gov.au/jobs/QLD-QM6...

The Natural History Museum Student Conference: getting lost in the science Sidney Leedham and Harrie Williams The iconic entrance of the Natural History Museum, London. In June, the two of us attended the Natural History Museum’s Student Conference in London, as both our …

Posters, talks, medieval manuscripts, getting lost in the NHM and writing about themselves in the third person! It's all here in a new blog post by PhD students Sidney and Harrie!📝

embliverpool.wordpress.com/2025/07/16/t...

Interested in the functional morphology of mammal heads and want to come join us in Liverpool? Apply for this exciting new PhD project with Alana!

Amber with EMB lab

Amber with supervisors, Alana and Nathan

Amber with Caroline (wife)

Amber with pint

Teamwork makes the dream work. Officially PhDone 🎓

Thanks to the lovely lot at @livevobiomech.bsky.social, my supervisors @acsharp.bsky.social, @drphilcox.bsky.social and @nathanj.bsky.social and my awesome wife @naturecaroline.bsky.social.

We're not done here 👀 Watch this space 💀🧠🐴🦍🦁🐂🐅🐫🦌🦏🦒🫎

Graduation day!! 🎉🎉Congratulations @apwoodbailey.bsky.social and thank you @nathanj.bsky.social. Can’t wait for the next chapter 👀

#ICVM2025 abstracts are now published! (1 pdf to rule them all)
Remember that, whatever format you're doing, the recorded presentation must be submitted by 20 July!
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/toc/10974687...

Are you looking for a PhD project starting this year?

I have a funded (UK rates) project on mammal skull diversity and function, looking at skull allometry and how mammal heads adapt to trade-offs in tissue demands during growth 🦌🦘🐘🦥

Please share and apply: www.liverpool.ac.uk/courses/buil...

We have just opened searches for 3 new continuing Teaching & Research Academics. All positions are open at Level B (Lecturer) or Level C (Senior Lecturer), and we have one position in Genomics and two in Ecology.
careers.pageuppeople.com/513/cw/en/jo...

careers.pageuppeople.com/513/cw/en/jo...

Screenshot of the media page on MorphSource, showing specimen/media details on the left, and 3D viewer with controls on the right. A colored 3D model of a gopher tortoise skeleton is shown in the 3D viewer.

I also urge you to check out the re-vamped MorphoSource online 3D viewer! The team has been working on new features for it, including the ability to save annotations, take measurements, new navigation controls, & camera settings. You may not even need to download models to collect data you need!

Determining modulus of elasticity using finite element analysis and non‐destructive testing: Are aquatic animal whiskers stiffer? The values of the modulus of elasticity (E) for each species whiskers were obtained when the FE model was aligned to the maximum displacement values of the experiment. Grey seal E values were larger ...

Check out our new paper in @journalofanatomy.bsky.social with @cbrassey.bsky.social using FEA and bend tests to show that seal whiskers are stiffer - in both shape and material - than terrestrial species.
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Had some fun with the microCT yesterday. I’m excited about these new projects! 🐀🐒 #diceCT #biomechanics

Evaluating interventions for end-stage ankle osteoarthritis at University of Sheffield on FindAPhD.com PhD Project - Evaluating interventions for end-stage ankle osteoarthritis at University of Sheffield, listed on FindAPhD.com

New funded PhD opportunity for UK students. Working with National Joint Registry data to assess clinical performance of total ankle replacement www.findaphd.com/phds/project...

Our lab does @prelights.bsky.social! Check out this one by PhD student Sidney and follow our new lab account @livevobiomech.bsky.social

The 2025 Marie Curie Fellowships are now open! If you are interested in #biomechanics #morphology #evolution #skulls #feeding #mechanobiology get in touch! happy to chat about hosting in #Liverpool

marie-sklodowska-curie-actions.ec.europa.eu/actions/post...

Register now for #ICVM2025 online & see our keynote talks:
Faysal Bibi, Museum für Naturkunde Berlin, Germany
Anne Claire Fabre, Univ. Bern, Switzerland
Tiana Kohlsdorf, Univ. São Paulo, Brazil
Karen Sears, Univ. California LA, USA
Neil Shubin, Univ. Chicago, USA
www.isvm-icvm.org/icvm-2025

MSCA fellowships are open for applications! Happy to chat with anyone from EU interested in comparative functional morphology considering a postdoc. We have amazing facilities for biomechanics including biplanar x-ray, gait analysis, FEA marie-sklodowska-curie-actions.ec.europa.eu/actions/post...

Egyptian fruit bat flight muscles - 3D model by Alana Sharp (@asharp) This model shows 3D volumes of muscles of the forelimb in the Egyptian fruit bat (Rousettus aegyptiacus), based on physical and digital dissection. The bat was stained with Lugol’s iodine and CT sca...

The groups findings of Egyptian fruit bat flight muscles can be viewed in #3D, #VR or #AR at skfb.ly/p7QZV, with the full @journalofanatomy.bsky.social paper at doi.org/10.1111/joa....

Little data is available on the #muscle properties and architecture of bat flight muscles.
@acsharp.bsky.social and colleagues show that the Egyptian fruit #bat pectoralis is optimised for power, and the elbow flexion/extension group is optimised for high forces with large PCSA and short fibres

This month sees a Special Issue of @journalofanatomy.bsky.social, with a specific focus on Biomedical Imaging in Comparative Anatomy. The cover image shows the wing muscles of the Egyptian fruit bat (Rousettus aegyptiacus), from @acsharp.bsky.social and colleagues, which is included in this issue.

Graphical abstract for "The Diffusion Diaries: Diffusible Iodine-Based Contrast-Enhanced CT for Vertebrate Natural History Specimens", showing the number of scans : "252 scans of 205 specimens from 7 natural history collections" a plot showing how staining time increases with mass, log-transformed (bottom left), a pie chart showing the Tissue Condition scores (TCS) recorded for all specimens (bottom middle), and a screenshot of a lab protocol for diceCT'ing museum specimens (bottom right)

Cover image for Integrative Organismal Biology, showing cross sections through a fish, a tenrec, a frog, and a lizard at the bottom of the image, and a 3D rendering of each animal at the top of the image (colored in teal, grey, yellow, and pink, respectively)

🚨New publication alert!🚨 A big one! It might just be my *biggest* one: doi.org/10.1093/iob/... IMPORTANT THREAD! From the moment Dave Blackburn set me loose at the Florida Museum, I had a marvelous time using diffusible iodine-based contrast-enhanced CT (diceCT) to create anatomical datasets 🧪1/6

Functional anatomy of the wing muscles of the Egyptian fruit bat (Rousettus aegyptiacus) using dissection and diceCT Bats are unique among mammals for evolving powered flight. However, very little data are available on the muscle properties and architecture of bat flight muscles. Using diceCT and gross dissection, ...

Our paper looked at the specialisation of different flight muscles for power and force, allowing bats to fly uniquely compared to birds
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

It’s international bat appreciation day! 🦇

And just this week our paper on bat flight muscles made the front cover of @journalofanatomy.bsky.social

Had a fantastic time at my first AAA meeting! PhD candidate Betzy Manners also attended with her poster, which was a huge success 👏🐒🦍🦧✅
#AnatomyConnected25 #AAA

My talk at #AnatomyConnected2025 is done, but please find me if you want to talk about sutures! This work covers a few projects including @apwoodbailey.bsky.social PhD work on Lagomorphs

I'm heading to Portland tomorrow for the AAA-Anatomy Connected 2025 conference this weekend! Very excited to be going with PhD student Betzy Manners and catching up with colleagues and friends after a very long time.
#AAA #Anatomy2025 @anatomyorg.bsky.social