For my PhD, I am a part of the ImmuNov project (DFG funded project within the priority program GEvol “Genomic Basis of Evolutionary Innovations”). By infecting different insect species with the same pathogens and using genomic, transcriptomic and epigenomic approaches we are trying to understand the evolution of the insect immune system. For that we will use an array of different insect species including Annam walking sticks (Medauroidea extradentata), bumblebees (Bombus terrestris) and firebrats (Thermobia domnestica). 

Before coming to Ulm, I did my B. Sc and M.Sc. at Freie Universität Berlin with Jens Rolff. For my Master’s research project, I studied the gut microbiome of a holometabolous insect throughout metamorphosis and tried to understand the evolutionary mechanisms at play.