Sandra Starke
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Sandra is a PhD student in the Structure and Motion Lab, supervised by Thilo Pfau and Stephen May. Her research focuses on improving subjective and objective lameness quantification.
Biography
In 2008 Sandra graduated from the University of Applied Sciences, Bremen (Germany) with a BSc in Biomimetics, a course which combines engineering and biology. During the three and a half year course she became passionately interested in biomechanics, significantly enhanced by two stays at the Structure & Motion Lab in 2006 and 2007. Here, Sandra worked on gait classification in Icelandic horses, horse and jockey movement during high speed gallop, automatic lameness detection in horses as well as investigating the principles of gait transitions in dogs for her final thesis.
Sandra then went on to complete the MSc in Biomechanics, University of Manchester (UK), where she performed her major dissertation project with Dr Bill Sellers, simulating equine locomotion based on morphological and physiological constraints using GaitSym. In her minor project, she quantified the effect of backloads on oxygen consumption and kinematics in Barnacle geese.
As Sandra has always thought that biomechanics provides a fantastic perspective in the clinical context, she decided to return to the Structure & Motion Lab for a PhD with Dr Thilo Pfau and Prof Stephen May, entitled "3D computer animations for improved recognition of movement asymmetry in horses".
Sandra is interested in all things big and small (horses being among her favourites), the mechanics behind evolution's state of the art solutions, technical gadgets and the mechanisms of (human) perception. She is funded through an RVC PhD studentship.
Research
Sandra is particularly interested in biomechanics and visual perception of the natural world.
Teaching
Sandra is one of the tutors for the 2nd year BVetSci students and regularly supervises a variety of horse-related student projects.
Selected Publications
Starke, S. D., Witte, T. H., May, S. A. and Pfau, T. (2012): Accuracy and precision of hind limb foot contact timings of horses determined using a pelvis-mounted inertial measurement unit. Journal of Biomechanics 45, 1522-1528.
Starke, S. D., Willems, E., Head, M., May, S. A. and Pfau, T. (In press): Proximal hind limb flexion in the horse: effect on movement symmetry and implications for defining soundness. Equine Veterinary Journal, early online publication.
Starke, S. D., Willems, E., May, S. A. and Pfau, T. (In press): Vertical head and trunk movement adaptations of sound horses trotting in a circle on a hard surface. The Veterinary Journal, early online publication.
King, A. J., Cheng, L., Starke, S. D. and Myatt, J. P. (2012): Is the true ‘wisdom of the crowd’ to copy successful individuals? Biology Letters 8, 197-200.
Pfau, T., Spence, A., Starke, S., Ferrari, M. and Wilson, A. (2009): Modern riding style improves horse racing times. Science 325: 289.
Starke, S. D., Robilliard, J. J., Weller, R., Wilson, A. M. and Pfau, T. (2009): Walk-run classification of symmetrical gaits in the horse: a multidimensional approach. Journal of the Royal Society Interface 6: 335-42.