Prof. Dr. John Nyakatura
John Nyakatura studierte Biologie und Geographie an der Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena. Nachdem er das 1. Staatsexamen für Lehrer an der Sekundarstufe abgeschlossen hatte, entschied er sich eine akademische Laufbahn einzuschlagen und erlangte den Doktorgrad mit einer Arbeit zur Evolution und funktionellen Morphologie der Faultiere.
Als Postdoc erforschte er den Zusammenhang von Form und Funktion am Beispiel des Bewegungsapparates von Salamandern, Echsen, Vögeln und Primaten. Regelmäßig arbeitete er dafür mit Paläontolog_innen, Biomechaniker_innen, Robotiker_innen und Wissenschaftsillustrator_innen zusammen.
Seitdem er als Juniorprofessor an die Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin berufen wurde, leitet John Nyakatura eine Nachwuchsgruppe, die sich mit der funktionellen Morphologie der Wirbeltiere befasst und zudem historische und epistemologische Fragestellungen zur Bildverwendung in der Morphologie bearbeitet. In 2019 war John Nyakatura Gastdozent an der Zürcher Hochschule der Künste.
Symbolic Material (Principal Investigator)
Material Form Function (Principal Investigator)
Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
Institut für Biologie
Philippstraße 13, Haus 2
10115 Berlin
Artikel
Alfieri, F., Botton-Divet, L., Nyakatura, J. A., Amson, E. 2021. »Integrative Approach Uncovers New Patterns of Ecomorphological Convergence in Slow Arboreal Xenarthrans.« Journal of Mammalian Evolution.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10914-021-09590-5
Berles, P., Heymann, E. W., Golcher, F., Nyakatura, J. A. 2021. »Leaping and differential habitat use in sympatric tamarins in Amazonian Peru.« Journal of Mammalogy, 103 (1): 146-158.
https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1093/jmammal/gyab121
Eigen, L., Nyakatura, J. A. 2021. »Architectural properties of the musculoskeletal system in the shoulder of two callitrichid primate species derived from virtual dissection.« Primates, 62 (5): 827-843.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10329-021-00917-7
Müller, M. A., Merten, L. J. F., Böhmer, C., Nyakatura, J. A. 2021. »Pushing the boundary? Testing the »functional elongation hypothesis« of the giraffe's neck.« Evolution, 75 (3): 641-655.
https://doi.org/10.1111/evo.14171
Picht, T., Calvé, M. L., Tomasello, R., Fekonja, L., Gholami, M. F., Bruhn, M., Zwick, C., Rabe, J. P., Müller-Birn, C., Vajkoczy, P., Sauer, I. M., Zachow, S., Nyakatura, J. A., Ribault, P., Pulvermüller, F. 2021. »Letter: A Note on Neurosurgical Resection and Why We Need to Rethink Cutting.« Neurosurgery. E289–E291.
https://doi.org/10.1093/neuros/nyab326
Wölfer, J., Aschenbach, T., Michel, J., Nyakatura, J. A. 2021. »Mechanics of Arboreal Locomotion in Swinhoe’s Striped Squirrels: A Potential Model for Early Euarchontoglires.« Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, 9
https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2021.636039
Alfieri, F., Nyakatura, J., Amson, E. 2020. »Evolution of bone cortical compactness in slow arboreal mammals.« Evolution, 75: 542-554.
https://doi.org/10.1111/evo.14137
Granatosky, M. C., McElroy, E. J., Lemelin, P., Reilly, S. M., Nyakatura, J. A., Andrada, E., Kilbourne, B. M., Allen, V. R., Butcher, M. T., Blob, R. W., Ross, C. F. 2020. »Variation in limb loading magnitude and timing in tetrapods.« The Journal of Experimental Biology, 223 (2): jeb201525.
https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.201525
Mielke, M., Nyakatura, J. 2019. »Bone microstructure in finite element modeling: the functional role of trabeculae in the femoral head of Sciurus vulgaris.« Zoomorphology, 138 (4): 535.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00435-019-00456-2
Nyakatura, J. 2019. »Early primate evolution: Insights into the functional significance of grasping from motion analyses of extant mammals.« Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 127 (3): 611.
https://doi.org/10.1093/biolinnean/blz057
Nyakatura, J. A., Baumgarten, R., Baum, D., Stark, H., Youlatos, D. 2019. »Muscle internal structure revealed by contrast-enhanced μCT and fibre recognition: The hindlimb extensors of an arboreal and a fossorial squirrel.« Mammalian Biology, 99: 71-80.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mambio.2019.10.007
Nyakatura, J. A., Melo, K., Horvat, T., Karakasiliotis, K., Allen, V. R., Andikfar, A., Andrada, E., Arnold, P., Lauströer, J., Hutchinson, J. R., Fischer, M. S., Ijspeert, A. J. 2019. »Reverse-engineering the locomotion of a stem amniote.« Nature, 565: 351 - 355.
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-018-0851-2
Scheidt, A., Wölfer, J., Nyakatura, J. A. 2019. »The evolution of femoral cross‐sectional properties in sciuromorph rodents: Influence of body mass and locomotor ecology.« Journal of Morphology.
https://doi.org/10.1002/jmor.21007
Wölfer, J., Amson, E., Arnold, P., Botton‐Divet, L., Fabre, A., Heteren, A. H., Nyakatura, J. A. 2019. »Femoral morphology of sciuromorph rodents in light of scaling and locomotor ecology.« Journal of Anatomy, 234 (6): 731-747.
https://doi.org/10.1111/joa.12980
Wölfer, J., Arnold, P., Nyakatura, J. 2019. »Effects of scaling and locomotor ecology suggest a complex evolution of scapular morphology in sciuromorph rodents.« Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 127 (2): 175.
https://doi.org/10.1093/biolinnean/blz042
Wölfer, J., Nyakatura, J. A. 2019. »Weighing homoplasy against alternative scenarios with the help of macroevolutionary modeling: A case study on limb bones of fossorial sciuromorph rodents.« Ecology and Evolution, 9 (19): 11025-11039.
https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.5592
Montañez-Rivera, I., Nyakatura, J. A., Amson, E. 2018. »Bone cortical compactness in ‘tree sloths’ reflects convergent evolution.« Journal of Anatomy, 233 (5): 580-591.
https://doi.org/10.1111/joa.12873
Talks & Präsentationen
Granatosky, M. C., Laurence-Chasen, J. D., Gartner, S. M., Whitlow, K. R., Westneat, M. W., Nyakatura, J. A. An XROMM and kinetic analysis of underwater walking in the West African lungfish (Protopterus annectens) with implications for the role of quadrupedal gaits during the fin-to-limb transition. Talk at the Melding Modeling and Morphology: Integrating Approaches to Understand the Evolution of Form and Function, Part. SICB Annual Meeting 2020, January 3-7, 2020, Austin, TX. 6 January 2020.
Nyakatura, J. A. The Anatomy of Movement and Nature's Design. Vertebrate Function, Evolution, and Scaling. Talk at the MoA Talks. Cluster of Excellence »Matters of Activity«, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, weißensee school of art and design berlin. 19 November 2019.
https://www.matters-of-activity.de/en/activities/938/moa-talks
Teaching & Kurse
Sauer, C., Guiducci, L., Razghandi, K., Kycia, A. Scaling Nature (2) – Fibers, Muscles & Bones. MoA Design Research Studio, With contributions by Fratzl, P., Dean, M., Nyakatura, J., Rešetar, I. and Stoll, M. weißensee school of art and design berlin. 15 October 2019 - 11 February 2020.
https://www.matters-of-activity.de/en/activities/1142/moa-design-studio-scaling-nature-2-fibers-muscles-bones, https://kh-berlin.de/projekt-detail/Project/detail/scaling-nature-2-fibers-muscles-bones-3102.html
External Grants, Fellowships, Scholarships & Residencies
Nyakatura, J. A. 2021. Mikrofocus Computertomograph (Micro CT scanner). DFG, DFG Major Research Instrumentation.
https://gepris.dfg.de/gepris/projekt/458465987
Nyakatura, J. A. 2016. On adaptation: an integrative study of jumping behaviour and functional morphology of the hind limb in callitrichid primates as model system. DFG, Project funding.
https://gepris.dfg.de/gepris/projekt/320131306
Podcasts & Videos
Rasehorn, F., Zwick, C., Petruschat, J., Dean, M., Yang, B., Rosenthal, N., Nyakatura, J. A., Van Le, M.-L. Tessellated Material Systems - A workflow towards designing surfaces with distinct kinematic properties. Video. 4 minutes, 24 February 2021.
https://vimeo.com/manage/videos/524787023