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From EESwiki
2009
Film screening
On Nov 24 our very own Pleuni Pennings, Marion Hart, and Volker Witte will be showing three of the films they have developed for the "Evolution of Life" Project. The films will be shown at the Münchner Volkshochschule (Gasteig, Rosenheimer Straße 5, Raum 0.115) from 18:00 - 19:30 Uhr. Admission is free.
Sven Bacher will talk about the general patterns in biological invasions
On the 23th of November Sven Bacher of the University of Fribourg (Switzerland) will visit the Biozentrum to give a talk.
Abstract: Alien invasive species are a large threat to biodiversity Mack et al. 2000; IUCN 2009), and the economic damage they cause exceeds 5% of the global gross product (Pimentel 2002). Although there is a general consensus that the overall negative effects of alien species have to be reduced, strategies on how to do this effectively with a limited budget and which species should be targeted first are controversial matters. One promising way to address the problem is to prioritize actions against alien species that cause the highest level of impact or to prevent species with a high impact potential from becoming established or spreading. Thus, what is needed are methods to predict which species are transported and released, which of these then have a high potential to establish, spread and cause serious damage. This is not an easy task, because it requires comparisons among species with different phylogenetic and geographical origins. In my talk I will outline pitfalls in such comparisons and show some recent advances in invasion theory and statistics on how to avoid them. I will use examples from different taxonomic groups, but will concentrate mainly on insects and mammals.
Sergey Nuzhdin talked about genomics approaches to study adaptation
On the 16th of November Sergey Nuzhdin of the University of Southern California (USA) visited the Biozentrum to give a talk.
Abstract: Genetic variation results in phenotypic variation through the in-between-ome: epigenetic modification, transcript metabolism, and protein networks. Some network structures might hide genetic imperfections, resulting in a larger amount of maintained variation; while others expose it, resulting in stronger conservation. These pathways are also reshuffled during adaptation of populations to local environments. Here, genomics tools will be used to assess how genetic variation is shaped by the network structures, and how it is rearranged in populations during local adaptation. The interpretative focus will be on transcription networks. The data and examples will be sampled from Drosophila, Arabidopsis, and Medicago research
Welcome new Masters students
All ten new Masters students (from the USA, Germany, Taiwan, Turkey, Colombia, and India) have arrived in Munich. In early October, they completed a two-week orientation where they toured various EES labs, attended the EES Conference, participated in a math course, and met all of the faculty and students. For pictures of our new students, please click here.
Postdoc position molecular computational phylogenetics
A postdoc position is open in the group of Gert Wörheide (Paleontology) in a project funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) "A phylogenomic approach to resolve deep phylogenetic incongruences among Phylum Porifera in the DFG Priority Programme 1174: "Deep Metazoan Phylogeny" see link.
Postdoc position in theoretical ecology
Professor Wilfried Gabriel is looking for a postdoc to work on "Modeling phenotypic plasticity". The ideal candidate has a background in evolutionary biology and experience in modeling. See postdoc phenotypic plasticity.
EES staff at Munich Researchers' Night: SENSESO9
The first Munich Researchers' Night (see link) will take place on Friday the 25th of September and will present a mix of art & science & party. Among many other scientists and artists, Christian Laforsch (evolutionary ecology) will present photographs and Pleuni Pennings (behavioural ecology) will present a short movie (see here). The organization of the night is the hands of Marion Hartl (PhD student at the MPI for neurobiology). Rebecca Meredith (EES Master student) and Marion wrote the successful proposal which convinced the EU to spend 20.000 Euro on the Munich Researchers' Night. Admission is free.
Elena Berg started her job
The new EES coordinator, Elena Berg, took over as program coordinator on the first of September. Please come by the office to say hello if you happen to be in the Biozentrum! Elena and Pleuni are now working together to get everything ready for the new students and the new semester.
Program now available for this years EES Conference
The program for the third annual EES conference (12th and 13th of October) is now available, see EES Conference. We hope to see you all there!
Download it --> here
EU selects Erasmus Mundus Master program in Evolutionary Biology
Together with the universities of Groningen, Uppsala, Montpellier and Harvard, the EES program has applied with the EU to start a joint Master Program. Last week, the EU announced the selected programs and we are among them! The program will start in September 2010. There is capacity for 32 students. They will do their first semester in Groningen or Uppsala and their second semester in Munich or Montpellier. In their second year they can choose any of the universities including Harvard. See here for more information about Erasmus Mundus and a list of selected programs.
Sign up now for the EES Conference!
It is now possible to sign up for this year's EES conference, see EES Conference. If you want to register please write an email to [Iris Fischer] indicating which days you want to participate. There will be talks by two invited speakers, 6 Master students, 2 Diplom students and 5 PhD students.
Manuscript by EES students & teacher accepted
In fall 2008, Professor Susanne Renner taught a course on conservation biology. She let the students choose between doing the course she had prepared or trying to write a review paper together. The students chose the review paper. Now, eight months later, the paper has been accepted pending minor revisions!
Morrison III, W.R.(Rob), J.N. Lohr (Jennifer), P. Duchen (Pablo), R. Wilches (Ricardo), D. Trujillo (Delsy), M. Mair, S.S. Renner. Taxonomy: does it kill, can it save, or is it just irrelevant? Biological Conservation.
EES now also has a PhD program
A few months ago the EES program launched its own PhD program. 15 PhD students form the first cohort. They have already done courses on presentations and time management. See EES PhD program for more information.
EES hires new coordinator: Elena Berg
Since both half-time EES coordinators are leaving (Elisabeth Brunner to be a coordinator in Regensburg and Pleuni Pennings to be a full time postdoc) we looked for a new coordinator. The search committee (Foitzik, Parsch, Wolinska, Renner) interviewed five candidates and was most convinced by Dr Elena Berg from the USA. Elena Berg is a biologist and works on cooperative behaviour in birds. She has studied and worked at some of the best universities in the world, such as Cambridge, UC Davis and Harvard and she has a keen interest in teaching and the organization of graduate education. She has fond memories of an exchange year in Hamburg and is excited to move back to Germany. We are looking forward to welcoming her in Munich in September.
EES joins new graduate school Life Science Munich
The Graduate School Life Science Munich (LSM) offers an international PhD program in life sciences covering areas of anthropology, biochemistry and cell biology, ecology, evolution, genetics, microbiology, plant sciences, systematics and zoology to outstanding motivated and qualified researchers. All EES faculty at the Biology department have joined the LSM Graduate school. Professor Susanne Foitzik, who is the speaker of the EES program, is on the board of directors of the LSM Graduate school. Students with a Bachelor or a Master's Degree can apply to the Graduate school. For more information, see here.
20th of July: Last EES/Forschergruppe Seminar
The speaker will be Dr. Alistair McGregor from the Institute of Population Genetics, University of Veterinary Medicine,
Vienna. Alistair works at the interface of Evo-Devo, QTL mapping, and population genetics, mainly working with Drosophila species.
13th of July: EES site visit
The 13th of July is an important day for the EES program. Three international reviewers and three people from the Volkswagen Foundation will spend the whole day at the Biozentrum to find out how the program is running. At the end of the day the reviewers will advice the Volkswagen Foundation whether they should fund the EES program for another three years. Students and staff are busy preparing their talks!
13th of July: EES seminar by Ido Pen
Ido Pen from the University of Groningen will talk about "Evolution of maternal effects under conflicts, costs and constraints". Note: The talk will start at 16:30h!! See EES seminars 0809.
14 non-EU students accepted to the EES Master program
The first round of the selection procedure is over. 46 non-EU students applied to the EES program, 13 students were invited for telephone or skype interviews and 12 students were accepted to the program. Two students were already accepted earlier. This makes 14 non-EU students which we hope to welcome in October (4 from Colombia, 1 from Peru, 1 from Brazil, 1 from Canada, 1 from USA, 1 from Taiwan, 2 from China, 1 from India, 2 from Turkey). The deadline for EU students to apply for the EES Master program is the 30th of June 2009.
6th of July: Mark Beaumont from the University of Reading will visit the Biozentrum
On Monday the 6th of July at 17:00h, Professor Mark Beaumont from the University of Reading, UK, will be giving a talk on "Likelihood-free inference of local selection"
Contact person: Dirk Metzler. To see abstract, please visit EES Seminars 0809.
The Next EES Seminar is at 17:00 on the 29/06/09 ---> in the Biozentrum, first floor, left lecture hall
Talk by: Prof Dr Jan-Peter Frahm
from the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn, Nees-Institut für Biodiversität der Pflanzen website: http://www.bryologie.uni-bonn.de/deutsch/frame.htm
Title: Ammonia – the overlooked pollutant
Contact person: Rob Morrison and Jennifer Lohr
see the EES Seminars 0809 page for more information.
2nd of June: Peter Linder from the University of Zurich will visit the Biozentrum
On TUESDAY the 2nd of June at 17:00h, Professor Peter Linder from the University of Zurich will be giving a talk on "Adaptive radiation, lineage diversification and niche expansion: how can a great species richness be packed into a small area?"
Contact person: Pablo Duchen and Delsy Trujillo. To see abstract, please visit EES Seminars 0809.
1st of June Deadline EES Summer School 2009
This year’s summer school will cover theoretical aspects of host-parasite evolution and discuss empirical approaches for studying coevolution. Specific topics will include the evolution of virulence and resistance, local adaptation and spatial structuring in host-parasite systems, and the molecular signature of coevolution. Instructors: Mike Boots (Sheffield), Jukka Jokela (ETH Zurich), David Nash (Copenhagen), Peter Tiffin (Minnesota), Local Instructors/Organizers: Susanne Foitzik, Pleuni Pennings, Laura Rose, Aurelien Tellier, Volker Witte, and Justyna Wolinska. The summer school is open to all graduate students and will be taught in English. For more information please visit: Summer school 2009 Application Deadline: June 1st, 2009.
The Fraueninsel at Chiemsee: Location of the Summer School
25th of May: Andrea Betancourt from the University of Edinburgh, will visit the Biozentrum
On Monday the 25th of May at 17:00h, Professor Andrea Betancourt from the University of Edinburgh will be giving a talk on "Recombination and adaptation in the Drosophila genome".
Contact person: John Baines. To see abstract, please visit EES Seminars 0809.
Awards and Honors
Last year, in December, Professor Gerhard Haszprunar received the Ehrenkreutz für Wissenschaft und Kunst award. This is one of the highest awards of the Republic of Austria for scientific achievements.
Nine LMU scientists from the fields of mathematics, physics, chemistry and pharmacy, biology and earth sciences received the award Therese von Bayern-Preis zur Förderung von Frauen in der Wissenschaft. One of them was Dr. Laura Rose from the Biology Department.
Professor Wolfgang Stephan was appointed as a member of the DFG-Senatskommission für Biodiversitätsforschung.
18th of May: John Kelly from the University of Kansas, will visit the Biozentrum
On Monday the 18th of May at 17:00h, Professor John Kelly from the University of Kansas will be giving a talk on "The maintenance of genetic variation in quantitative traits: Results from the yellow monkeyflower".
Contact person: Laura Rose. To see abstract, please visit EES Seminars 0809.
Three PhD students successfully applied for scholarships
Three PhD students of the group of Prof. Susanne Foitzik successfully applied for scholarships. With the financial support of these scholarships the three are now able to start their PhD projects:
- Angelika Wirth (Deutsche Bundestiftung Umwelt, DBU)
- Andreas Modlmeier (Bayerische Eliteförderung)
- Ilka Kureck (Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes)
For more information about how to apply for PhD scholarships contact Ilka Kureck
11th of May: Gregor Bucher from Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, will visit the Biozentrum
On Monday the 11th of May at 17:00h, Professor Gregor Bucher from Georg-August-Universität Göttingen will be the next speaker of the Summer Semester Semminar Series.
Contact person: John Baines. See EES Seminars 0809.
EES Masters Students visit to Potsdam
On the last weekend of April, sponsored by the EES program, the second cohort EES masters' students got the chance to visit the University of Potsdam. The students from both universities spent two days sharing their experiences and interests. They presented the projects in which they have been working on and the possible internships that are available in different laboratories of the university. They walked around the beautiful city of Potsdam and visited Berlin also. To see the pictures, please visit Potsdam2009.
EES Masters Students Workshop
Last Thursday, 16th of April and Friday, 17th of April, two teachers and the second cohort masters students participated on the workshop "Leading and Promoting discussions". They were trained on different techniques to present and lead discussions, according to different situations, topics and audiences. "It was a fun course, full of nice activities...but most importantly, it is going to be very useful in our professional lives as scientists" they said. This 2-day workshop was offered as a preparation for the upcoming "Seminar and Discussion" semester course.
PR
There is an advertisement in the current edition of the newspapers "Die Zeit" and "Hochschulanzeiger (FAZ)". This way EES hopes to get the attention of new students.
EES staff learns how to give feedback on manuscripts and reports
Last week the second EES train-the-trainer course took place. Last semester EES staff members spent two days learning about discussions and how to train students to participate in and lead discussions. This time the topic was how and why to give feedback on written work by students. 8 staff members took part.
Goodbye to Prof. Sebastian Diehl and Dr. Herwig Stibor
This semester, the Aquatic Ecology groups head, Prof. Sebastian Diehl is moving to Umeå University in Sweden. Dr. Herwig Stibor, also from the aquatic ecology group, has recently moved to the European Institute for Marine Studies in Plouzane
France. Sebastian was an integral part of the EES program and will be greatly missed by his students and colleagues. A special goodbye from his ‘Team America’ master students!
Sebastian, Herwig and PhD students Stephan, Florian, Mia and
Maren while leading an EES excursion in the Austrian Alps
DZG Evolution PhD Meeting 2009
The 14th Annual Evolution Ph.D. Meeting, organized by Sonja Grath, Stefan Laurent and Jennifer Lohr and aided by a large crew of volunteers, was very successful. It was held at the Botanical Institute in Nymphenburg, and featured engaging plenary talks by Dr. Olaf Bininda-Emonds (University of Oldenburg), Dr. Penelope Haddrill (University of Edinburgh) and Dr. Thomas Schmitt (University of Freiburg). The conference also incorporated talks by students as well as poster presentations. Graduate students in the fields of evolutionary biology were able to present their work, and connect with each other, and the plenary speakers through common dinners, breaks and an excursion to see the botanical gardens. See DZG PhD Meeting 2009.
Coffee Break at the DZG Evolution PhD Meeting
Newspaper article about Christian Laforsch' research
The following article was published in the newspaper "Die Zeit" on Febrauary 26th:
Pleuni Pennings in Bild der Wissenschaft
Bild der Wissenschaft has a special this month about outreach project in evolutionary biology. The movie project of Pleuni Pennings is also described. A pdf can be downloaded here.
EES program featured in "Impulse für die Wissenschaft"
"Impulse für die Wissenschaft" is a publication of the VW Foundation where they describe some of their most successful projects. In the 2009 issue, they write about the evolution programs in Munich, Münster, Tübingen and Potsdam. They conclude that in Munich "ein rundum gelungenes Konzept" was established. You can download it here.
EES staff in the Münchener Volkshochschule
The Münchener Volkshochschule celebrates the Darwin anniversary year with a series of talks on evolution (all in German). Many of the EES staff have volunteered to give a talk for the general audience. The program includes Karsten Suhre (22nd of January), Gerhard Haszprunar (5th of Feb), Thassilo Franke (9th of Feb), Gisela Grupe (11th of Feb), Susanne Foitzik (13th of Feb), Bart Kempenaers (19th of Feb), Pleuni Pennings (26th of Feb). Tickets cost 5 Euros, talks take place in the Gasteig. For details, please see here
EES PhD program starts on the 2nd of February
With an intensive and fun program on 4 days, EES starts its own PhD program. 12 newly started PhD students from various EES groups have signed up to be part of the first cohort. Soon they will be present on this website. For information, contact Pleuni Pennings.
A crown of thorns, an exceptional inducible defense, protects Daphnia against an ancient predator
Petrusek, A., Tollrian, R., Schwenk, K., Haas, A. Laforsch, C.
PNAS early edition, 14. January 2009
http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0808075106
After analyzing the mitochondrial DNA of several species from the Daphnia atkinsoni species complex, a group of scientists lead by Dr. Christian Laforsch (LMU Biozentrum, Evolutionary Ecology) made an unexpected discovery. Laforsch and colleagues found that a structure known as the "crown of thorns" was actually an inducible defence, which develops onlyin the presence of the predatory notostracan Triops cancriformis. Triops is an ancient predator of Daphnia, classified as a living fossil and dating back 220 million years with the same body-plan. Their results suggest that the ‘'crown of thorns’’ evolved in coexistence with this ancient predator group, and highlight the importance of molecular data, especially when dealing with cryptic species where it can help detect overlooked ecological and evolutionary processes.
Presentation of courses for EES and Diploma students
On Monday the 9th of February from 14:00 to 16:30 courses offered in the summer semester 2009 and winter semester 2009/10 will be presented (Biozentrum, small lecture hall B01.019). All students (Diplom and EES) are welcome to this information event! For the preliminary program see here.
IRT1 conference on 27th of February at 14h
The first year EES students will present their IRT1 projects in the Biozentrum room C00.0013. Everybody is welcome to join.
2008
EES students get grant from DAAD
The first cohort of EES master students were successful in applying for money from the DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service). The 7 students plan a one week trip to our partner university Uppsala to see the university, the city and the landscape and, most importantly, to meet the professors and the students at the Evolutionary Biology Centre of the University of Uppsala. EES also covers part of the costs. See Excursion 2009 - Uppsala.
Uppsala-Groningen-Munich Week on Human Evolution
From the 15th to the 19th of December 2008 we were the host of the first meeting of a joint program between the universities of Groningen, Uppsala and Munich.
During this week master students from all three universities worked in small groups on selected subjects on human evolution and presented their work on the last day of the meeting. Some pictures can be found here.
Winter semester seminar series planned
The summer semester series is not yet finished, but Christian Laforsch, Volker Witte and Pleuni Pennings have already been planning for the winter semester. For all names and dates, see EES Seminars 0809.
People management courses
- On Monday the 30th of June 2008, the Center for Leadership and People Management offers a one-day course on project management, especially for PhD students. The course takes place at the Biozentrum from 9:00h till 16:00h. See Project management 08.
- The Center for Leadership and People Management offers a course especially for EES PhD students on Communication, Collaboration and Team Performance on the 18th of March 2008.
Survey
- Survey among LMU biology alumni in the EES fields. Rita Verma, a PhD student in systematics, is be conducting a survey among LMU biology graduates. We are interested to find out how Diplom-Biologen with main subject evolution, ecology or systematics look back on their studies and what they are doing now. To find out more see Alumni Survey. Note: the survey is in German only.
25th of November: Nico Michiels from Tübingen will visit the Biozentrum
On Tuesday the 25th of November at 17:00h, Nico Michiels will talk about Red fluorescence in reef fish: a novel communication mechanism?
Contact person: Christian Laforsch. See EES Seminars 0809. Sciencedaily covered the fluorescent fish story here.
Eight EES staff follow training on discussions
Eight EES staff members spent two days together learning how to lead discussions and how to train students to lead discussions. The course was interesting and intensive with a mixture of theory and practice. We plan to try out what we learned in the seminars of the next semesters.
4 winners of EES prizes
Ariane Mutzel and Robert Piskol have won EES prizes for their Diploma theses. Stephan Hutter and Silke Steiger have won EES prizes for their PhD theses. See EES Prizes
18th of November: Jody Hey from New York will visit the Biozentrum
On Tuesday the 18th of November at 17:00h, Professor Jody Hey from Rutgers University in New York will talk about New Methods and Applications in Divergence Population Genetics. Contact person: Wolfgang Stephan. See EES Seminars 0809.
11.11.08 Hanna Kokko from Helsinki visits Biozentrum
On Tuesday the 11th of November at 17:00h, Prof Hanna Kokko from the University of Helsinki will talk about Which sex does what, and why?. Contact person: Jonathan Jeschke. See EES Seminars 0809.
Susan Ptak from Leipzig visits Biozentrum
Susan Ptak, who works at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Department of Evolutionary Genetics, will give a talk on the 28th of October. The title of her talk is "The story of FOXP2: Insights into detecting selection." See EES Seminars 0809.
EES has hired a new coordinator
From the first of October biologist Elisabeth Brunner will join EES and will take over the coordination of the Master's program from Pleuni Pennings. Pleuni will then focus more on the planned EES doctoral program. Elisabeth has almost finished her PhD on reproductive conflicts in ant societies, for which she worked at the university of Regensburg in the group of Jürgen Heinze. She also has experience in organization of conferences and in teaching.
Spencer Hall from the University of Indiana visits LMU
On the 21st of October, in the first seminar of the EES seminar series in the winter semester, Spencer Hall will tell us three stories at the interface of food webs and disease in the plankton: "Predator spreaders", "Friendly competition", and "Quality matters".
New students and EES Conference
We are very happy to welcome 8 new EES master students who will start this winter semester! The first thing they need to do is enjoy the EES conference. The first day of the EES conference (Wednesday 1st of October) is for students and staff only. On the second day (Thursday 2nd of October) everybody is welcome. Invited speakers are Siv Andersson (from Uppsala) and Franjo Weissing (from Groningen).
EES professor Susanne Foitzik talks about sex on television
Susanne Foitzik will be interviewed (again!) on Planet Wissen, on the 25th of October. See Planet Wissen
Summer school starts
On Sunday the 14th of September 22 students, 3 invited teachers and 4 EES staff members travel to the idyllic Fraueninsel to talk about the evolution of sex chromosomes during the week long summer school. See Summer school 2008.
Volker Witte and Susanne Foitzik's work featured on Science News
For the story about the mushroom eating ants that Volker studies see here.
For the story about ant rebellion that in the species that Susanne studies see here.
EES Prizes Deadline is September 1st 2008: For Best Diploma and PhD thesis
Awards are for theses in the fields of Evolution, Ecology and Systematics at the LMU.
You can win 1000 Euros (for the two best Diploma theses) or 1500 Euros (for the two best PhD theses).
Send your application to pennings@lmu.de and jennifer.lohr@campus.lmu.de, including:
1) a summary of your thesis, a CV and a publication list, all accessible on the Web. As an application, you should just send us an e-mail with a link
2) your thesis (preferably as a pdf, in the same e-mail)
3) a letter of recommendation from your supervisor (by e-mail)
4) a note about whether or not you will be able to give a talk on the 2nd of October in Munich
Jeffrey Jensen will visit on the 9th of September
Jeffrey Jensen from the University of California San Diego will visit the Biozentrum and give a talk. For more information, contact Wolfgang Stephan. See EES Seminars 0809
EES Grants: Successful Applications
PhD students, EES master students and Diplom students can apply for travel grants. Many students are already making use of this possibility. Read their stories here: Successful applications The next deadline for applications is on the 30th of June (always the end of even months). See Grants.
Special EES seminar 18th of July Prof John Wakeley from Harvard
On Friday the 18th of July the Harvard population geneticist John Wakeley will visit the Biozentrum and give a talk at 14h in the small lecture hall. Everybody is welcome.
2008 Flyer
15.01.08: 
The 2008 Flyer for the master program is ready. You can download it by clicking here.
11th of July poster session by EES master students
Have you ever wondered about the story behind how Watson and Crick came up with the double helix, how Craig Venter thought of whole genome shot gunning, or how E.O. Wilson came to write the theory of island biogeography?
Come and find out about these stories and a lot more at our EES poster session, where students will present posters they have made from books about great scientists and how they came up with their ideas
The poster session takes place on Friday the 11th of July from 16h till 17:30h in C00013 in the Biozentrum.
Deadline for applications EES masters program: 30th of June
Next week (on the 30th of June) is the deadline for applications for the master program. Our program is intensive, individual and highly interactive. It will make you dive into the world of evolution, ecology and systematics. For more information, see EESlmu Master.
One day course on project management for PhD students
On Monday the 30th of June, the Center for Leadership and People Management offers a one-day course on project management, especially for PhD students. The course takes place at the Biozentrum from 9:00h till 16:00h. See Project management 08.
Summer school
Deadline for summer school applications: 24th of June. The Munich Graduate Program for Evolution, Ecology and Systematics (EES) invites applications for the international EES Summer School on 'the Evolution of Sex Chromosomes' held at Frauenchiemsee (80 km east of Munich) from 14 - 19 September 2008. See Summer school 2008.
Invited speaker Sylvia Cremer from Regensburg
11.06.08: On the 24th of June, Sylvia Cremer from the University of Regensburg will talk about "Social immunity of ants". See EES seminars 0708
Evolution film project wins grant
21.05.08: Thassilo Franke (Nautilus Film, formally LMU), Yannick Mahé (CNDP, Poitiers) and Pleuni Pennings (EES LMU) won a grant from the Volkswagen Stiftung worth 100,000 Euros for a film project. In the next 7 months, they will produce 6 short movies about topics of evolutionary biology such as adaptation, coevolution and the origin of life. For more information see http://www.evolution-heute.info/
Older old news
- 3.03.08: One of our Diplom students, Annette Leingärtner, visited a lab in Ulm to learn a new technique. She writes: "I wanted to learn more about this fascinating system but in our laboratory we didn’t have the necessary equipment to examine the communication. For that reason I applied for an EES grant to visit another laboratory which is equipped with the needed instruments and where I could learn the new method." See Successful applications.
- On the 10th of June, Armin Moczek from the Indiana Molecular Biology Institute will give a talk about
"the origins of novelty in development and evolution: a case study on beetle horns" See EES seminars 0708.
- On the 27th of May, Prof Dr Manfred Milinski from the Max-Planck-Institute for Evolutionary Biology will give a talk about "The evolutionary economy of human cooperation. Can we rescue the global climate?". See EES seminars 0708
- Next week on the 13th of May, Prof Dr Brian CHARLESWORTH from the University of Edinburgh will talk about "The evolution of Y chromosomes". See EES seminars 0708
- 21.04.08: Next week on the 29th of April, Professor Laurent EXCOFFIER from Bern will give a talk about "Statistical evaluation of models of human evolution". See EES seminars 0708
- 2.04.08: The ecology section has a new assistant: Dr Justyna Wolinska. Justyna is an evolutionary ecologist and her research focuses on the phenomenon of genetic polymorphism and its potential drivers: parasites. Before coming to Munich she did a post doc in Bloomington and her PhD in Zurich. Justyna Wolinska's webpage
- 26.03.08: Professor Michael Nachman from the University of Arizona will give a talk in the Biozentrum on the 15th of April on "The genetic basis of adaptation and speciation in mice". See EES seminar series.
- 27.03.08: EES professor Susanne Foitzik is the main guest in the television show Planet Wissen tomorrow (28.03.08). The show is broadcasted at 15:00h at BR-alpha, WDR or SWR (it is also repeated at other times). For a 3 minute preview see Planet Wissen website.
- 16.03.08: The Center for Leadership and People Management offers a course in English especially for EES PhD students on Communication, Collaboration and Team Performance at 16:00h on the 18th of March 2008. Location: Room 1206, Leopold str. 13.
- 3.03.08: The new EES newsletter is ready and contains news about the master program, summer school and Volvox. Have a look at EES newsletter or download the March 2008 EES newsletter as a PDF.
- 3.03.08: We are proud to announce the speakers in the EES seminar series for the coming summer semester. There will be talks by Laurent Excoffier, Brian Charlesworth, Manfred Milinski, Armin Moczek, Tatiana Giraud and Dieter Ebert. For more information see EES seminars 0708.
- 09.01.08: One of our Diplom students, Iris Fischer, presented a poster at the PopGroup meeting in England. She says: "First, I was afraid that no one would care about my results, because I was the only one at the meeting working with tomatoes. But there were many people interested and I really had to explain my results for the whole two hours." Read more here.
2007
- 11.10.07: The First EES Conference that took place last week was a succes. We met the new master students, listened to talks of the EES prize winners and two invited speakers and were surprised by a CSI-like movie about a mistletoe.
- New people in the research groups.
- 28.08.07: The Bavarian ministry of Education gives the green light for the EES master program! We can officially start in October.
- 15.08.07: The first EES newsletter was send out to students and staff of EES. You can read it here
