My research focus lies in animal communication and sensory processing. In particular, I am interested in vision, how animals perceive their environment, how evolutionary forces shape sensory systems, and how flexible visual systems cope with varying visual needs arising from environmental, developmental or ecological changes.

During my PhD I was able to show that visual experience leads to behavioural as well as neuroanatomical changes in visual brain centres in desert ants that clearly demonstrates the highly plastic nature of the visual system.

In my current work I study the role of visual communication in species rich and colourful coral reef fish, including damselfishes. I aim to determine the role of ecology and phylogeny in shaping the diversity of fish visual systems. As vision is a complex process, I use a multidisciplinary approach that combines molecular (e.g. RNAseq) and neuroanatomical (e.g. in situ hybridisation combined with retinal mapping) methods, behavioural assays and visual modelling.

 

2000 BSc, The University of Bremen, GERMANY
2003 MSc The University of Würzburg, GERMANY & The University of Hawai’i, USA
2012 PhD, Graduate School of Life Sciences – University of Würzburg, Germany

2001 -2002 Research Assistant,  The University of Würzburg, GERMANY
2007-2007 Research Assistant at ZMT, The University of Bremen, GERMANY
2012 -2014 Postdoctoral DAAD / Research Fund Research Fellow, The University of Basel, SWITZERLAND
2014-2015 Endeavour Research Fellow, The University of Queensland, AUSTRALIA
2015-present Postdoctoral Research Fellow, The University of Queensland, AUSTRALIA
2016-present DFG Research Fellow, The University of Queensland, AUSTRALIA