Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin - Vergleichende Zoologie

Research

I am a Ph.D. student working on a non-crustacean group, the tunicates. Tunicata is one of the three major chordate taxa, and they are probably closest living relatives to vertebrates. The aim of my Ph.D. thesis is to gain a new phylogeny of tunicates based on their morphology, especially on the morphology of their nervous systems. Thus, I use confocal laser scanning microscopy and 3d-reconstructions based on sections for light and transmission electron microscopy to elucidate the general morphology and brain morphology of various tunicate species.