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.
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Department Assistant
Research Assistant
Research interests: Efficiency of restoration measures. Nutrient fluxes and origins of microplastics in aquatic ecosystems. Biomass production of aquatic macrophytes in stream ecosystems.
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Post-Docs
Research interests: Theoretical Biology. Evolution and maintenance of cooperative interactions. Evolution of biological networks. Coevolutionary dynamics within microbial communities.
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PhD students
Research interests: Ecology and evolution of interaction amongst microbes. Nanotube formation in microbes: regulation, function and consequence.
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MSc. Linéa Muhsal
Research interests: Coevolutionary dynamics within microbial communities. Genomic and physiological consequences of a synergistic coevolution. Contact-dependent interactions among bacterial cells. Bacterial multicellularity.
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Research interests: Impact of relatedness on cooperation.
Evolution of ecological interactions in different species. |
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.
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Research interests: Metabolic interdependencies within soil dwelling bacteria. Evolution and maintenance of cooperative interactions. Coevolutionary dynamics within soil microbial communities.
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M.Tech. Swagatika Dash
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.
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MSc. Shryli Kedambadi Shreekar
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.
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M.Sc. Anjana Prasad
Research interests: Metabolic cross-feeding interactions - establishment, regulatory drivers, molecular mechanisms and metabolic trade-offs among bacterial communities.
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Technical assistants & Staff
Diplom.-Biol. Antje Moehlmeyer
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Technical Assistant Björn Reiling
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Technical Assistant Saskia Schuback
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Master Students
B.Sc. Michael Itermann
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.
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B.Sc. Lefkothea Karamani
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.
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Bachelor Students
B.Sc. Brian Gaertner
Research interests: Bacterial dynamics in diverse auxotrophic communities. Especially cross-feeding of auxotrophic partners in relation to their abundance in a community.
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B.Sc. Elias Schütte
Research interests: Emergence, development and regulatory mechanisms of bacterial interaction within artificial and natural metabolic networks.
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B.Sc. Tomke Swyter
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.
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B.Sc. Antonia Casto
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.
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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)
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)
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
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
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
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
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.
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)