Doktorand/innen 2016

I was born in California, USA, and raised in Korea. I earned my B.Sc in Animal Science at UC Davis, California, USA, in 2011. Then, I did my masters in behavioral ecology at Seoul National University, Korea, assessing and studying various effects of a pesticide on toad tadpoles.
I worked in the molecular ecology group at Yeungnam University, Korea, until I joined the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology for my PhD. Here, my research is supervised by Prof. Dr. John Baines of the Evolutionary Genomics group. I will focus on host-microbiome interaction and variation in mouse lung, establishing the concept of lung microbiota by examining the role of host genetic variation.
I personally enjoy cooking, listening to music of various genres, and traveling.

Contact: cjchung@evolbio.mpg.de

I am originally from the Netherlands but I have lived in the UK since I was little. I read Zoology at the University of Sheffield, completing both my bachelor’s and master’s there in 2014.
In January 2017, I joined the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology in Plön as a doctoral student under the supervision of Dr Miriam Liedvogel. My project aims to shed light on the molecular underpinnings of migratory traits in the blackcap, Sylvia atricapilla.
In my spare time, I enjoy horse riding, reading, theatre, concerts and visiting museums and galleries.

Contact: gdurieux@evolbio.mpg.de

I was born in Bogotá, Colombia, but I studied Biology at the University of Tsukuba in Japan, where I received my B.Sc. in Biology with emphases in biochemistry and molecular biology. After returning to my home country, I joined the Evolutionary Immunology and Immunogenetics research group at the National University of Colombia, where I got my Master’s degree on 2014. In between my studies, I have worked in different areas of the private and public sector.
On January 2017, I started my PhD at the Evolutionary Genetics group under the direction of Prof. Dr. Diethard Tautz. With my project I aim to get a better understanding of the mechanisms of evolution of de novo genes using an eukaryote system.
In my free time, I enjoy reading, learning languages, dancing and traveling.

Contact: jfajardo@evolbio.mpg.de

I am from the East Coast of Canada, where I completed both my bachelor’s and master’s degrees in biology at the University of New Brunswick.
From these studies, my interest in host-microbe interactions grew and this is how I’ve found myself studying the evolution of the microbiota-gut-brain axis within the IMPRS for Evolutionary Biology. My work is done under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Thomas Bosch at the Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel.
When I’m not behind the bench, I prefer to be outside, either hiking, climbing or taking photos.

Contact: dharris@zoologie.uni-kiel.de

I am from Kolkata, India. I did B.Sc. in Microbiology from Lady Brabourne College, University of Calcutta and then pursued a Master’s degree in Biotechnology from the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay.
I am a PhD student at the Max Planck Institute in Plön, supervised by Dr. Jenna Gallie. My work will focus on understanding the evolutionary origins of codon usage bias using Pseudomonas fluorescens as our model organism.
I am an avid reader and enjoy travelling.

Contact: mukherjee@evolbio.mpg.de

My research career began with studying Biology at the Free University Berlin. Inspired by social interactions in bacteria, I focused on Evolutionary Biology and completed my Masters at the University of Groningen.
I am currently working on the evolution of interactions C. elegans and bacterial members of its microbiota in the group of Prof. Dr. Hinrich Schulenburg. Here I am particularly interested to understand how bacteria change when they adopt a host-associated life style.

Contact: nobeng@zoologie.uni-kiel.de

I was born in Chennai, India. I did my BSc in Physics from Delhi University. I later joined an Erasmus Mundus programme through which I graduated from Ghent University, Belgium with an MSc in Nuclear Fusion and Engineering Physics. While doing my numerical projects related to computational physics and out of general curiosity, I read about nonlinear dynamics, evolutionary dynamics and game theory in particular that are used in mathematical biology and all these attracted me to the field of evolutionary biology. I am mainly interested in developing models (mostly based on game theory) for social evolution, life-history evolution etc. I work in the Department of Evolutionary Theory under Dr. Chaitanya S. Gokhale's Research Group for Theoretical Models in Eco-Evolutionary dynamics.
My other passions are reading (and discussing) books, poetry, cinema, music, cooking and travelling.

Contact: vandana@evolbio.mpg.de