Team
Head of the department
Research interests: Ecology and evolution of metabolite cross-feeding among microorganisms. Genomic and physiological consequences of a synergistic coevolution. Contact-dependent interactions among bacterial cells. Ecological and evolutionary dynamics within microbial interaction networks. Bacterial multicellularity. ​
Department Assistant
Research Assistant
Dr. rer. nat. Dominique Remy
 remy (at) uni-osnabrueck.de                                                                          
​+49 (0) 541 969-2829
Research interests: Efficiency of restoration measures. Nutrient fluxes and origins of microplastics in aquatic ecosystems. Biomass production of aquatic macrophytes in stream ecosystems.​
Post-Docs
Dr. rer. nat. Leonardo Oña
leobubach (at) uni-osnabrueck.de                                      
​​+49 (0) 541 969-2854
Research interests: Theoretical Biology. Evolution and maintenance of cooperative interactions. Evolution of biological networks. Coevolutionary dynamics within microbial communities.
PhD students
MSc. Shiksha Ajmera
sajmera (at)uni-osnabrueck.de                                                            
​​+49 (0) 541 969-2255
Research interests: Ecology and evolution of interaction amongst microbes. Nanotube formation in microbes: regulation, function and consequence.
MSc. Linéa Muhsal
linea.muhsal (at) uni-osnabrueck.de                                                                  
​+49 (0) 541 969-3101
Research interests: Coevolutionary dynamics within microbial communities. Genomic and physiological consequences of a synergistic coevolution. Contact-dependent interactions among bacterial cells. Bacterial multicellularity.
MSc. Saskia Wilmsen
saskia.wilmsen (at) uni-osnabrueck.de     
​+49 (0) 541 969-3101                                                         
Research interests: Impact of relatedness on cooperation.     
Evolution of ecological interactions in different species.    ​
MSc. Benedikt Pauli
benedikt.pauli (at) uni-osnabrueck.de     
​+49 (0) 541 969-2255                                                         
Research interests: Emergence, development and regulatory mechanisms of bacterial interaction within artificial and natural metabolic networks. With reference to involved membrane structures of the nanotubes.    ​
MSc. Sharvari Harshe
sharshe (at) uni-osnabrueck.de     
​+49 (0) 541 969-7141                                                        
Research interests: Metabolic interdependencies within soil dwelling bacteria. Evolution and maintenance of cooperative interactions. Coevolutionary dynamics within soil microbial communities.
M.Tech. Swagatika Dash
sdash(at) uni-osnabrueck.de   
​+49 (0) 541 969-7141                                                        
Research interests: Impact of biotic interactions on the establishment of soil bacterial communities: interplay between synergism and antagonism. Phenotypic heterogeneity within isogenic bacterial populations: causes and functional benefits.
MSc. Shryli Kedambadi Shreekar
sshreekar(at) uni-osnabrueck.de   
​+49 (0) 541 969-3101                                                        
Research interests: Evolutionary ecology. Co-existance and cross-feeding in bacterial communities. Metabolite exchange and cost in cross-feeding networks. Molecular cues and signaling within bacterial interactions.
M.Sc. Anjana Prasad
aprasad(at) uni-osnabrueck.de   
​+49 (0) 541 969-3101                                                         
Research interests: Metabolic cross-feeding interactions - establishment, regulatory drivers, molecular mechanisms and metabolic trade-offs among bacterial communities.
Technical assistants & Staff
Diplom.-Biol. Antje Moehlmeyer
antje.moehlmeyer (at) uni-osnabrueck.de                                                   
​+49 (0) 541 969-2835
Technical Assistant Susana Pereira
susana.pereira(at)uni-osnabrueck.de                                                   
​+49 (0) 541 969-2255
Technical Assistant Björn Reiling
breiling(at)uni-osnabrueck.de                                                  
​+49 (0) 541 969-2255
Technical Assistant Saskia Schuback
saskia.schuback (at) uni-osnabrueck.de                                                   
​+49 (0) 541 969-2835
Master Students
B.Sc. Michael Itermann
 mitermann(at)uni-osnabrueck.de                                                        
​ +49 (0) 541 969-3101
Research interests: Effect of auxotrophies on the amino acid uptake rate. Fitness benefits caused by gene loss. Distribution of amino acid auxotrophs within natural bacterial communities.
B.Sc. Lefkothea Karamani
 lkaramani(at)uni-osnabrueck.de                                                        
​ 
Research interests: Exploration of horizontally and vertically transmitted mutualisms, with a specific focus on how these different transmission modes influence the fitness outcomes within mutualistic associations. Analysis of evolutionary dynamics and stability of these mutualistic systems under varying environmental pressures and transmission conditions.
Bachelor Students
 B.Sc. Brian Gaertner
 bgaertner(at)uni-osnabrueck.de                                                        
​ +49 (0) 541 969-2255
Research interests: Bacterial dynamics in diverse auxotrophic communities. Especially cross-feeding of auxotrophic partners in relation to their abundance in a community.
 B.Sc. Nikolas Westerwiede Barros
 nwesterwiede(at)uni-osnabrueck.de                                                        
​ +49 (0) 541 969-3101
Research interests: Classification of bacteria with Machine Learning and artificial intelligence algorithms.
 B.Sc. Elias Schütte
 eschuette(at)uni-osnabrueck.de                                                        
​ +49 (0) 541 969-2255
Research interests: Emergence, development and regulatory mechanisms of bacterial interaction within artificial and natural metabolic networks.
 B.Sc. Tomke Swyter
 tswyter(at)uni-osnabrueck.de                                                        
​ +49 (0) 541 969-3101
Research interests: Coevolutionary dynamics of auxotrophic bacteria and contact-dependent interactions among bacterial cells. Specifically with bacteria that have a mutation in the pros gene.
 B.Sc. Antonia Casto
 acasto(at)uni-osnabrueck.de                                                        
​ +49 (0) 541 969-3101
Research interests: Investigation of memory and learning mechanisms in bacterial species, employing empirical methods. Examination of horizontal memory transmission and elucidating the implications of shared information for population dynamics and survival strategies. Exploration of the role of environmental factors in shaping memory and learning behaviors in bacteria.
Past Members (Alumni)
Technical assistants
Eva Limpinsel   (2016-2017)
Bianca Altmann (2017-2018)
Marita Hermann (2018-2020)
Postdoctoral students
Dr. rer. nat. Chong Becker  (2017)
Dr. Piyali Pal Chowdhury  (2016-2020)
Master students
MSc. Muhammad Atiqur Rahman (2016)
Nadja Raifarth (2018)
Iqra Rafik Kasu (2019)
Benedikt Pauli (2019)
Pascal Brameier-Weuda (2019)
Jan-Paul Fischer (2020)
Thomas Schulzendorf (2021)
Jenna Boy (2023)
Andreas Messer (2023)
Bachelor students
Ramya Ganesan (2016)
Ananya Nidamangala Srinivasa (2018)
Caroline Rolfes (2018)
Franziska Theising (2019)
Alexander Pfaff (2019)
Anna Milchin (2020)
Neele Avermann (2020)
Wyn Pflug (2021)
Anna-Lena Otto (2021)
Lefkothea Karamani (2022)
Internship students
Ramya Ganesan (2017)
Iqra Rafik Kasu (2019)
Aditi Shekhar (2021)
Doctoral students
Dr. Samay Pande             PhD Thesis: "Ecological mechanisms that stabilize cooperative cross-feeding interactions in bacteria"  (2010-2014)    
​Now at ETH Zürich, Switzerland
Dr. Glen D'Souza             PhD Thesis: "The evolution of metabolic dependency in bacteria" (2011-2016)                  
​Now at ETH Zürich, Switzerland
Dr. Silvio Waschina        PhD Thesis: "Evolutionary systems biology of bacterial metabolic adaptation" (2012-2016)                  
​Now at ​Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, Germany
Dr. Shraddha Shitut      PhD Thesis: "Mechanistic and metabolic basis of bacterial cross-feeding" (2013-2017)
Now at the Institute of Biology in Leiden, The Netherlands
Dr. Daniel Preußger      PhD Thesis: "The evolution of metabolic cooperation in bacterial communities – causes and consequences" (2013-2020) Now at the Friedrich-Loeffler-Institute in Jena, Germany 
Dr. Anne-Kathrin Dietel​      PhD Thesis: "Identifying the molecular causes for the commonly observed AT-bias in endosymbiont genomes​" (2013-2020) 
Dr. Samir Giri​      PhD Thesis: "Ecological and evolutionary drivers of metabolic cross-feeding" (2015-2021) 
​Now at EMBL in Heidelberg working with Typas Nassos.
Dr. André Bogdanowski      PhD Thesis: "Individual-based modeling of microbial systems under consideration of consumer-resource interactions and evolution" (2018-2022) 
Dr. Ghada Yousif      PhD Thesis: "Ecology of metabolite cross-feeding in soil bacterial communities" (2015-2023)