We have a large and flourishing research team that works on projects both in the field and the laboratory.
FACULTY
Principal Investigator: Mrinalini Erkenswick Watsa
My interests are broad, spanning reproductive biology, behavior, and ecology of wild primates. At my research site in Peru, I use genetics, behavioral observations, and a capture-and-release program to keep close tabs of a multi-generational population of 14 free-ranging groups of saddleback and emperor tamarins. These methods produce a complex set of data that are then utilized to answer a broad range of questions concerning endocrinology, paternity and relatedness, genetic chimerism, feeding ecology, space use, reproductive biology, demographics, health, and disease ecology. I also serve as the President and Senior Research Scientist with Field Projects International.
Site Co-Director: Gideon Erkenswick Watsa
Gideon is a disease ecologist and geneticist who has been monitoring the primate community at Los Amigos for nearly 5 years. Through his work, we now have a clear idea of which parasites these primates host, providing a crucial baseline reading necessary for the detection of future disease outbreaks. Ultimately, his research has close ties to our lab’s interests in survival and fitness. He is also the Treasurer and Senior Research Scientist with Field Projects International.
FIELD RESEARCH TEAM
Efstathia Robakis 
Effie is an Associate Research Scientist with FPI and is completing her Ph.D. on vocal communication, space use, territoriality, and dispersal in sympatric callitrichids at Washington University in Saint Louis.
Matthew DeVries
Matt is a Visiting Research Scientist with FPI and is completing his Master’s research on individual behavioral ecology as impacted by edge environments among callitrichids at the University of Toronto.
Krista Banda
Kris us a Visiting Research Scientist with FPI and is completing her Master’s research on seasonality as a mediator of parasite richness among saddleback tamarins at Central Washington State University.
Alice Poirier
Alice is a Visiting Research Scientist with FPI and is completing her Ph.D. on olfactory communication in callitrichids at Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge, England.
LABORATORY RESEARCH TEAM
Samantha Lopez Clinton
Sam is a senior undergraduate biology major from Mexico City working on genetic screening for trichromacy and imaging of dental wear in callitrichids. She hopes to go to graduate school in primate biology in order to eventually work on habitat conservation and natural resource management in Mexico.
Aashna Narang
Aashna is a senior majoring in environmental biology with a minor in French. She is keenly interested in wildlife and has spent time studying primates in the Peruvian Amazon Rainforest, as well as working with leeches (!) in the forests of Southern India. She loves the field and working in a laboratory setting.
LABORATORY ALUMNI
Gary Yan
Gary studies both anthropology and biology. What interests him the most is the connection between human culture and evolution, and how technology, language, and organization have allowed the human species to shape itself over time.
Catherine Cumbe
Cat is a junior majoring in Anthropology (Global Health and the Environment) and Biology. She joined the lab because it would be a great way to expand her interest in physical anthropology. She is also very interested in the study of primates, so she is glad she can take part in it even if it involves studying their feces (!).
COLLABORATING INSTITUTIONS AND RESEARCHERS
Dr. Alan Templeton
Dr. Jane Philips-Conroy
Dr. Tab Rasmussen
Gideon Erkenswick Watsa
Dr. Patricia Parker
Dr. Tony DiFiore
Dr. Rebecca Stumpf
Dr. Jennifer Rehg
Dr. Anne Stone
Tanvi Honap
Dr. Corinne Kozlowski
The Inkaterra Association