About
Summary
My research focuses on understanding how animals perceive and integrate environmental cues to guide orientation and navigation. Sensory perception plays a pivotal role in survival, from long-distance migration to local spatial awareness. During my PhD at the Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg (Germany), I studied the use of multiple environmental cues for orientation and settlement in migratory fish species. Within the Graduate School Neurosensory Science and Systems and the RTG Molecular Basis of Sensory Biology, I combined molecular, genetic, and behavioural approaches to demonstrate, for the first time, migratory readiness in juvenile teleosts, and to provide evidence supporting light-dependent radical-pair magnetoreception in fish through collaboration with the QuantBioLab (protein homology modelling).
Currently, my research explores the sensory perception of octopus sucker cups—unique multisensory organs. Using an integrative approach that combines anatomical, molecular, and physiological methods, I aim to elucidate the sensory repertoire and functional properties of the octopus sucker epithelium, and how adaptations to distinct ecological niches shape sensory specializations.
Positions
Postdoc Apr 2024 -
Animals rely on their sensory systems to detect and filter signals from a noisy environment. Recent anthropogenic changes, especially in marine ecosystems, are threatening many species. Understanding the cellular and molecular mechanisms of sensory signal filtering can reveal how animals adapt to rapid environmental changes. Octopus offer a suitable model for studying marine sensory biology due to their sensory specializations in anatomy, behaviour, and habitat adaptations.
PhD Student Nov 2019 - Feb 2024
During my PhD on the “Sensory Basis of Orientation Behaviour in Fish” my research aimed to understand the mechanisms fish can use for orientation during long-distance migration, focusing particularly on compass-based orientation mechanism (sun compass and magnetic compass orientation). Understanding the underlying molecular and biophysical mechanism of magnetoreception is one of the most difficult challenges in sensory biology. Combining behavioural studies with genetic and molecular techniques, as well as bioinformatic tools helped shed light on the radical-pair light-dependent magnetoreception theory in fish, and closed some knowledge gaps we had about migratory readiness.
Skills
I have used a multidisciplinary approach in my research, including micro- and molecular biology, genetics, transcriptomics, bioinformatics and behavioural methods. I have knowledge of bacteria culture, as well as animal handling (FELASA certificate), including developing different behavioural assays. I also have extensive experience working with RNA, analyzing gene expression and cloning experiments (RNA extraction, qPCR, CRIPR/Cas9, genetic engineering, cloning), as well as bioinformatics and transcriptomics.
Keywords: Behavioral tests, Confocal microscopy, HPC, Immunohistochemistry (IHC), PCR, project management, RNA-Seq, transcriptomics