Gregor Bucher

During my studies at the LMU Munich I became interested in how evolutionary changes of development influence the evolution of animals. During my PhD in the Klingler lab at the LMU Munich I studied the beetle orthologs of trunk gap genes. Then, I started my own group at the Georg-August-University Göttingen in the Wimmer lab studying the genetic control of head patterning. Since recently, my lab has been working on the evolution of the brain. I have been leading the genome wide iBeetle RNAi screen, which makes Tribolium the second insect model amenable to unbiased screening.

Dr. Marita Büscher discovered the shaking hands gene to be involved in central complex formation in Tribolium and Drosophila. She now continues studying the function of this gene in more detail in both species as independent postdoc with own DFG funding.

Dr. Christine Mau is interested in tracing the evolution of homologous neurons of the brain using single cell sequencing of transcripts and open chromatin. She is focusing on the mushroom bodies.

Noel Cabanas uses a single cell sequencing approach to compare similarities and differences of gene expression between cells of the adult brains and embryonic neuroblasts between fly and beetle.

Ying Pang wants to understand, what cell types are marked with FoxQ2 in adult brains. To that end, she develops and applies transgenic methods for single cell marking such as brainbow.

Doga Cedden wants to enhance RNAi mediated pest control by optimizing the applied dsRNA and its stability in the gut. He is working on an algorithm to predict the efficiency of dsRNA sequences. He is funded by DAAD based on a proposal he wrote on the topic.

Lena Reim is looking for genes that show signs of evolution during the emergence of holometabolous insects and tests for their functions during development. Further, she tries to drive Cas9 to the germline. The work is done in collaboration with Mario Stanke within the SPP GEvol.

Elham Akbari is intersted in finding out, what neural cells are regulated by six4 positive neurons by marking them via genome editing. She will use RNAi to study the development of these cells. Further, together with Lena, she tries to drive Cas9 to the germline.

Claudia Hinners is a specialist for molecular experiments and helps with several projects in the lab. Moreover, she keeps an eye on the clone and probe collections.

Elke Küster is our expert for screening and insect stock keeping. She was in charge of the GEKU-Screen and is has performed a Gal4 enhancer trap screen.