Please welcome Raul Chavarria to the Whitney Laboratory! He recently joined the Martindale Lab as a graduate student.
Raul received his B.S. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from the University of North Florida (UNF). During his time at UNF, he studied body plan evolution in tardigrades, a lineage of microscopic animals. Raul continued doing evo-devo work on tardigrades as a Master's student at UNF where he was awarded a National Science Foundation (NSF) fellowship under the Graduate Research Fellowship Program. He also spent two summers being a student mentor for the NSF REU program, teaching undergraduate students molecular techniques and confocal microscopy. During his time at Whitney Lab, Raul hopes to continue exploring the mysteries of the universe by investigating regeneration and nervous system patterning in ctenophores.
Outside of the lab, Raul enjoys cooking, kayaking, birding, and daydreaming.