Animals are characterized by great diversity as well as phenotypic disparity. The spectrum of disparity ranges from extreme differences in a few thousands of years to apparently no or only minimal changes despite divergence times of several million years. In my research, I am therefore interested in the origin of this diversity, the influence of the specific origin on the further evolution of organisms and to what extent genomic limitations or possibilities influence their evolvability. My research objects are predominantly marine invertebrates, but recently also insects due to collaborations at the NHM.

Methodically, I employ a comparative approach using molecular and morphological data. Comparative biology is changing dramatically at the moment, as genome-scale data can be used for non-model organisms. My group uses these modern technologies to answer these questions. However, these possibilities also pose new challenges for the analysis of the data, especially with regard to data quality. My research therefore also includes method development both in the laboratory and in bioinformatics. More about my research and the other members of my group at the different instiutions can be found on the research page.

Below the slide show shows pcitures from our research and the word could was genereated from four selected recent papers of our group, one each of the main research area, using https://combinepdf.com/ together with https://www.wordclouds.com/