Current research

1) Filter performance in large pelagics

  • Whale sharks: Dr. James Strother, Dr. Karly Cohen
  • Megamouth sharks: M.S. Jordyn Neal thesis and NHMLA

Work supported by NSF GRFP, CSU COAST, CSUF Violet Horn Fellowship, CSUF Jerome Wilson funding. 

  • Manta Rays: Dr. Shirel Kahane-Rapport, Dr. Karly Cohen, Dr. Leandra Hamman, and M.S. Julia Teeple in collaboration with Dr. James Strother

Work supported by NSF IOS

  • Baleen Whales: Dr. Kahane-Rapport in collaboration with Drs. Karly Cohen and Adam Summers. - 

Work in part supported by NSF IOS and NSF PRFB funding.  

  • Oarfish filtration: M.S. Jordyn Neal, Dr. Karly Cohen, Dr. Shirel Kahane-Rapport; Scripps Institution of Oceanography

 

2) Osteoderm performance in armadillos

  • M.S. Julia Teeple thesis in collaboration with Dr. Ted Stankowich, M.S. Caitlin Stapp, Dr. Cassandra Donatelli, and Dr. Karly Cohen. 

Work in part supported by CSUF Jr/Sr Intramural funding.

 

3) Hearing performance in mysticete whales

  • M.S. Maddy Wilson thesis in collaboration with Drs. Theodore Cranford and Petr Krysl  

Work in part supported by CSU Violet Horn Fellowship. 

 

4)  Animal bite/jaw performance -

  • Squid - M.S. Jahnita DeMoranville thesis in collaboration with Dr. Ian Bartol

Work in part supported by CSUF Department of Biological Sciences, CSUF Pa'lante Fellowship, and Aquarium of the Pacific African American Scholarship 

  

5) Tooth fatigue and replacement in sharks (Undergraduates Ryan Le, Mariah Cox, M.S. student Taylor Naquin) 

 

6) Microplastics pollution and remediation in commercially important food fishes and coastal waters of the Southern California Bight

  • M.S. Chelsea Bowers thesis, undergraduates Justin Hertel and Ashley Ibrahim in collaboration with Drs. Samantha Leigh and Claire Steele

Work in part supported by CSU COAST RAPID funds, CSU COAST Graduate Funding, CSUF Coppel Funding, CSUF Jr/Sr Grant, CSUF Department of Biological Sciences, and CSUF Violet Horn Fellowship.

 

7) Function and performance of accessory reproductive organs in chimeras.

  • M.S. Katie Kern thesis in collaboration with NHMLA and Chicago Field Museum

Work supported by CSU COAST and CSUF Department of Biological Sciences

 

8) Population genetics of Seven Gill sharks.

  • B.S. Ryan Le in collaboration with Dr. Ryan Walter. 

 

9) Investigating mesopelagic fish bones (visiting scientist Donald Davesne)

 

Selected Publications

Paig-Tran et al. 2013
Paig-Tran et al. 2013

 

Book Chapters

  1. Kahane-Rapport, S.R. and Paig-Tran, E.W.M. Edited by Fudge. 2023. Filtration in fishes. In Encyclopedia of Fish Physiology. 
  2. Paig-Tran, E.W.M. Porter, M.A., Ferry, L.A., and Whitenack, L. Edited by Carrier, Simpfendorfer, Heitaus, and Yopak. (2022). How to Build a shark: Biomechanics and Bioinspiration. In Biology of sharks and their relatives III. Chapter 3. 

 

US Patent: 16240732

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Selected research publications

 

Filtration (Large pelagics and whales)

  • Teeple, J.*, Kahane-Rapport, S.R., Cohen, K.E.**, Hamman, L.**, Strother, J.A., and Paig-Tran, E.W.M. 2025. Manta ray filters serve as a model for bio-inspired industrial applications. Integrative and Comparative Biology. Submitted March 2025.
  • Kahane-Rapport, S.R.**, Teeple, J.B.*, Liao, J., Paig-Tran, E.W.M, and Strother, J.A. 2025. Filter feeding in devil rays is highly sensitive to morphology. Proc. R. Soc. B 292: 20242037. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2024.2037. 
  • Vandenberg, M.L.*, Cohen, K.**, Reuben, B., Goldbogen, J., Summers, A.P., Paig-Tran, E.W.M., and Kahane-Rapport, S.** (2023). Formation of a fringe: a look inside baleen morphology using a multimodal visual approach. J. Morphology. doi: 10.1002/jmor.21574.
  • Divi, R.V., Strother, J.A. and Paig-Tran, E.M., (2018). Manta rays feed using ricochet separation, a novel non-clogging filtration mechanism. Science Advances, 4(9), p.eaat9533.
  • Paig-Tran, E.W.M. and Summers, A.P. (2014). Comparison of the structure and composition of the branchial filters of suspension feeding elasmobranchs. The Anatomical Record.  297:4. 701-715.
  • Paig-Tran, E.W.M., Kleinteich, T., and Summers, A.P. (2013). The filter pads and filtration mechanisms of the devil rays: variation at macro and microscopic scales (Manta Walbaum 1792 and Mobula Rafinesque 1810). J. Morph. 274:7. 1026-1043. Cover.
  • Paig-Tran, E.W.M., Bizzarro, J.J., Strother, J.A., and Summers, A.P. (2011) Bottle as models: Predicting the effects of varying swimming speed and morphology on size selectivity and filtration efficiency in fishes. J. Exp. Biol. 214: 1643-1654. Cover.

 

Biological Armors 

  • Donatelli, C.M., Vandenberg, M.*, Martinez, L.*, Paig-Tran, E.W.M. and Cohen, K.E.** 2025. The Bioinspiration Feedback Loop - Fostering a Continuous Exchange Between Biology and Engineering. Integrative and Comparative Biology. Submitted March 2025. 
  • Teeple. J.*, Cohen, K.E.**, Stankowich, T., and Paig-Tran, E.W.M, K.E.**, Donatelli, C. 2025. The Armadillo's Guide to Damage Control: The Mechanics of Osteoderms and Hard-Soft Interactions. Integrative and Comparative Biology. Submitted Feb 2025. 
  • Cohen, K.E. Donatelli, C.M., Schulz, A.**, Teeple, J., Stankowich, T., and Paig-Tran, E.W.M. Biological Armors – Evolution, Materials, and Bioinspiration, Integrative and Comparative Biology. Submitted Feb 2025. 
  • Lowe, A.*, Kolmann, M. and Paig-Tran, E.W.M. (2023). How to survive a piranha attack. IOB. Integrative Organismal Biology. Integrative Organismal Biology.
  • Lowe, A., Summers, A. P., Walter, R., Walker, S., & Paig-Tran, E. M. (2021). Scale performance and composition in a small Amazonian armored catfish, Corydoras trilineatus. Acta Biomaterialia. 121. 359-370.

 

Oarfish and their relatives

  • Ferry, L. A., Paig‐Tran, E. W., Summers, A. P., & Liem, K. F. (2019). Extreme premaxillary protrusion in the king‐of‐the‐salmon, Trachipterus altivelis. Journal of morphology, 280(12), 1865-1870.
  • Forsgren, K.L., Jamal, H., Barrios, A. & Paig-Tran. E.W.M. (2017). Reproductive morphology of oarfish (Regalecus russellii). The Anatomical Record, 300:9. 1695-1704.
  • Paig‐Tran, E. W., Barrios, A. S., & Ferry, L. A. (2016). Presence of repeating hyperostotic bones in dorsal pterygiophores of the oarfish, Regalecus russellii. Journal of Anatomy, 229(4), 560-567. 

 

Fish biology

  • Hinojosa-Alvarez, S., Walter, R. P., Diaz-Jaimes, P., Galván-Magaña, F., & Paig-Tran, E. M. (2016). A potential third Manta Ray species near the Yucatán Peninsula? Evidence for a recently diverged and novel genetic Manta group from the Gulf of Mexico. PeerJ, 4, e2586.  
  • Ferry, L.A., Paig-Tran, E., and Gibb, A. (2015). Suction, ram, and biting: deviations and limitations to aquatic prey capture. Integrative and Comparative Biology. 55:1. 97-109.

 

Other

  • Addis, E.A., Bauer, C.M., Belanger, R.M., Butler, M.W., Collar, D.C., Gall, M.D., Gangloff, E.J., Johnson, M.A., Lynn, S.E., Monroy, J.A., Paig-Tran, E.M., Pask, G.M., Stahlschmidt, Z.R., Staub, N.L., Thompson, J.T., and Husak, J.F. 2025. Impactful research at primarily undergraduate institutions. Integrative and Comparative Biology. Submitted March 2025.  
  • Shiffman, D., Arguedas Alvarez, T., Bangley, C.B., Boyt, R., Cote, I., Daly-Engel, T.S., Davis, A.C.D., Chan Gaskins, L.C., Graham, J., Graham, R., Johri,S., Macdonald, C.C., Paig-Tran, E.W.M., Roca, A., Schwieterman, G.D.,Whitenack, L.B., Wiley,T.R., Ferry, L.A. What can Professional Scientific Societies do to Improve Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion: A Case Study of the American Elasmobranch Society.Frontiers in Education, STEM Education. In press.
  • Lantsoght, E.O.L., Crepaldi, Y.T., Tavares, S., Leemans, K., and Paig-Tran, E.W.M. (2021). Challenges and opportunities for academic parents during COVID-19. Frontiers in Psychology. 3353.
  • Shiffman, D. S., Ajemian, M. J., Carrier, J. C., Daly-Engel, T. S., Davis, M. M., Dulvy, N. K., ... & Nash, C. S. (2020). Trends in Chondrichthyan Research: An Analysis of Three Decades of Conference Abstracts. Copeia, 108(1), 122-131.

Patent granted!

We have received a U.S. utility patent for bio-inspired manta ray filters for use in ricochet filtration. 

Paig-Tran, Strother, and Divi. 

U.S. Patent (2019): 16/240,732. 

Field Work

A portion of my research takes me to the the Yucatan Peninsula where I actively study manta rays with my collaborator Silvia Hinojosa Alvarez. This work was supported by funding from a National Geographic Society Waitts Grant. 

 

 

You can read more about this work here: http://www.proyectomantacaribe.com/  

Note: Students interested in joining the FABB lab should contact Dr. Paig-Tran directly. Include a short statement of who you are and your research interests. It is helpful to include an updated C.V. 

 

*Remember, before contacting any professor about joining their lab, make sure that you do your homework. Know what their lab does. Try to read one of their papers or at least an abstract from their papers.

 

Have a possible research question ready to discuss. This impresses P.I.s and gives you the advantage over students who have not taken the time to look into what happens in that lab.

 

Contact Misty: 

[email protected]