Prof. Dr. John Nyakatura
John Nyakatura studied Biology and Geography at the Friedrich-Schiller-University in Jena, Germany. After completing a degree to become a secondary school teacher, he decided to persue an academic career and earned his doctoral degree in Zoology with a dissertation on the evolution and functional morphology of sloths.
As a postdoc he conducted research on the form-function-interface in the musculo-skeletal system of salamanders, lizards, birds, and primates. He routinely collaborated with paleontologists, biomechanists, roboticists, and scientific illustrators.
Since being appointed as a joint juniorprofessor at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin in 2014, John Nyakatura leads a group concerned with the functional morphology of vertebrates and with historical and epistemic aspects of image use in his field. In 2019 he became a visiting professor at the 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
Articles
Berghäuser, T., Nyakatura, J. A., Wölfer, J. 2022. »Evolution of gliding in squirrel‐related rodents (Mammalia: Sciuromorpha) did not induce a new optimum on the cortical thickness of the scapular glenoid fossa.« Online Version of Record before inclusion in an issue. The Anatomical Record.
https://doi.org/10.1002/ar.25146
Eigen, L., Baum, D., Dean, M. N., Werner, D., Wölfer, J., Nyakatura, J. A. 2022. »Ontogeny of a tessellated surface: Carapace growth of the longhorn cowfish Lactoria cornuta.« Journal of Anatomy, 241 (3): 565-580.
https://doi.org/10.1111/joa.13692
Löffler, L., Wölfer, J., Gavrilei, F., Nyakatura, J. A. 2022. »Computational Modeling of Gluteus Medius Muscle Moment Arm in Caviomorph Rodents Reveals Ecomorphological Specializations.« Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology, 10 (806314)
https://doi.org/10.3389/fbioe.2022.806314
Scheidt, A., Ditzel, P. C., Geiger, S. M., Wagner, F. C., Mülling, C. K. W., Nyakatura, J. A. 2022. »A therian mammal with sprawling kinematics? Gait and 3D forelimb X-ray motion analysis in tamanduas.« Journal of Experimental Biology, 225 (12)
https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.243625
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
Conference Proceedings
Rodrigues, L., Nyakatura, J., Zachow, S., Israel, J. H. 2022. »An Immersive Virtual Paleontology Application.« 13th International Conference on Human Haptic Sensing and Touch Enabled Computer Applications, EuroHaptics 2022. Springer, 478-481.
Design Projects
Rasehorn, F., Ciecierska-Holmes, J., Rosenthal N., Dean, M., Eigen, L., Nyakatura, J., Le, M.-L. V., Yang, B. 2022. The Tessellation Archive. Design Project. weißensee school of art and design berlin, Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin: Comparative Zoology, Cluster of Excellence »Matters of Activity«. Since 1 June 2022, Virtual.
https://tessellated-materials.mpikg.mpg.de
Exhibitions
Büsse, M. (curator), de Visscher, E. (curator), Dean, M., Dierichs, D., Eder, M., Eigen, L., Guiducci, L., Hehemeyer-Cürten, J., Jalkh, H., Kycia, A., Mareis, C., Nyakatura, J. A., Rasehorn, F., Rešetar, I., Ribault, P., Sauer, C., Sauer, I., Schneider, M., Stock, R., Shone, J., Wenig, C. Design Lab #13. Material Legacies. Exhibition. Cluster of Excellence »Matters of Activity«, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Museum of Decorative Arts. Kunstgewerbemuseum. 3 November 2022 - 26 February 2023.
https://www.smb.museum/en/museums-institutions/kunstgewerbemuseum/exhibitions/detail/design-lab-13/
Highlighted by TAZ, 15.11.2022.
Talks & Presentations
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
Invited Moderation/ Comment
Cubasch, A., Petruschat, J., Eigen, L., Rasehorn, F., Nyakatura, J. A., Dierichs, K. Tessellated Material Systems. Material Legacies, Kunstgewerbemuseum, Berlin. 8 December 2022.
https://www.matters-of-activity.de/en/activities/9518/round-table-tesselated-material-systems
Events & Workshops
Rodrigues, L.S., Israel, J. H., Nyakatura, J., Schmidt, T., Zachow, S., Lange Nacht der Wissenschaften – Gedächtnistraining in VR – Sind Deine Sinne bereit für eine Herausforderung? Zuse Institute Berlin. 17 June 2023.
https://www.langenachtderwissenschaften.de/programm/detail/91402?tx_aaevents_programmpunkte%5BbackPid%5D=18&tx_aaevents_programmpunkte%5Bprevaction%5D=list&cHash=15c88b7220491066b0b062fbf45993d7
Werner, K., Tikka E., Nyakatura, J, Rasehorn, F, Vaish, A, Perraudin, L., Müller, M., Nestler, A, Bullermann, E. What is the Future Made Of? A speculative workshop about bio-inspired design. Naturkundemuseum Berlin, Berlin Science Week. CollActive Materials. Cluster of Excellence »Matters of Activity«, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. 5 November 2022.
https://berlinscienceweek.com/de/event/what-is-the-future-made-of/
Teaching & Courses
Dierichs, K., Farmer, J., Rasehorn, F., Stoll, M., Bonavia, E., Dean, M., Eder, M., Hehemeyer-Cürten, J., Wenig, C., Yang, B., Nyakatura, J. A. Designing Matter 2 - From Tile to Tesselation. Seminar, MoA Design Research Studio, weißensee school of art and design berlin, HU Berlin, MPI of Colloids and Interfaces. 18 October 2021 - 15 February 2022.
https://www.matters-of-activity.de/en/activities/7442/designing-matter-2-from-tile-to-tesselation
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