The Lab People

Current Lab Members

Former Lab Members

Dr. Séverine Toussaint. Alexander v. Humboldt postdoctoral fellow. Her postdoctoral research project aims at better understanding the acquisition of nails and grasping mechanisms in early primates. now here

Dr. Fabio Alfieri. His project aims to characterize the convergent evolution of humeral and femoral functional anatomy in mammals adapted to the slow arboreal lifestyle, in a phylogenetic framework.

Dr. Eli Amson. Alexander v. Humboldt postdoctoral fellow. We continue to collaborate on various projects.

Kathrin M. Amelung. M.A. She went on to the Bauhaus University of Weimar, Germany where she is continuing her work on her PhD project which focusses on the term „illustration“.

Dr. Patricia Berles studied the jumping behavior and correlated differences in hindlimb morphology of the Callitrichidae (Mammalia, Primates). finished 2026 „On adaptation: an integrative study of leaping behaviour and functional morphology of the hind limb in callitrichid primates as model systems“

Previous Theses Projects

2026

Clemens Zinner: B.Sc. A description of the intervertebral cartilage volume of the caudal series in crocodilians: Implications for paleontology and biomechanics

Moritz Deckwerth: B.Sc. Effect of Epiphyseal Fusion on Trabecular Bone Parameters in Caviomorpha

Bianca Karsch: B.Sc. The influence of locomotor type on the cross-sectional properties of the muroid ulna

Marlene Bleich: B.Sc. The influence of body size and extreme lifestyles on the trabecular structure of the femoral head in different rodents

Nils Eckert: B.Sc. Aguti in Motion – eine kinematische Vergleichsanalyse

Leonard Aulfes: B.Sc. Joint angles of Dasyprocta prymnolopha und Dolichotis patagonum: A kinematic analysis of symmetrical gaits

Oskar Beck: B.Sc. The trabecular structure of the T1 vertebrae of Cervus elaphus and Ovis musimon in light of sexual dimorphism

Alina Renk: B.Sc. Joint spacing in elbows of mammals

Min Yi Lam: B.Sc. Shape comparison of the first thoracic vertebrae in Cervus elaphus and Ovis musimon in light of sex and intraspecific male combat behaviour

Ina Lorenz: B.Sc. Hatching emergence and success of loggerhead turtles in a new emerging nesting site

Gopithan Kulanathan: B.Sc. Humerale Querschnittseigenschaften der Muroidea in Anbetracht der Bewegungsökologie

Elisabeth Richter: B.Sc. Kinetische Analyse symmetrischer Gangarten bei Dasyprocta prymnolopha

2025

2024

Corvin Kosubek: B.Sc. The analysis of the effects of lifestyle and phylogeny on the variation of femoral and pelvic shape in Caviomorpha

Isabelle Lèvesque: B.Sc. Maras in Motion – eine kinematische Vergleichsanalyse

Jana Freese: B.Sc. Comparative analysis of the teres major instantaneous muscle moment arms in Carnivora

Jana Ciecierska-Holmes: B.Sc. To make a fish fly: linking pectoral morphology and gliding ability in flying fish and relatives

Lea Gresens: B.Sc. The influence of locomotor habits and body mass on femoral cross-sectional properties in caviomorph rodents

Leonie Schielke: B.Sc. Intraspecific lever arm variation of the posterior extremity muscles in different Caviomorpha

Dennis Fischer: B.Sc. Lifestyle and scaling patterns of the trabecular architecture in the muroid humeral head

Annika Licht: B.Sc. The relationship between locomotor behaviour and the trabecular structure of the hindlimb in Callitrichidae

Uyen Nguyen: B.Sc. Morphofunctional analysis of trabeculae using a whole-epiphysis approach in tamarins

Oliver Berg: B.Sc. The influence of body size and lifestyle on the trabecular structure of the muroid femoral head

Max Vella: M.Sc. Comparative analysis of instantaneous muscle moment arms of two hip extensors in Caviomorpha

Maik Thiele: B.Sc. The locomotion of Cavia porcellus and the influence of the change of speed on the kinematics.

Laura Felske: B.Sc. Convergent evolution of „vertical clinging and leaping“ in strepsirrhine and callitrichid primates: A comparative analysis of cross-sectional properties of the calcaneus

Juri Bienkowski: B.Sc. Vertikale Fortbewegung bei Säugetieren

Sandra Schüler: M.Sc. Comparative Finite-Element-Analysis of the 1^st thoracic vertebra in artiodactyls

2023

2022

Georg Neye: B.Sc. Vertical locomotion of callitrichid primates.

Beatrice Magistri: B.Sc. Analyse der Bodenreaktionskräfte bei der Fortbewegung von Riesenmeerschweinchen

Mai-Lee Van Le: M.Sc. 3D-analysis of the tessellated osteoderm carapaces in extant armadillo species using Amira for segmentation

Lennart Eigen: M.Sc. Lactoria cornuta: an ontogenetic study

Timo Berghäuser: M.Sc. Shape variation analysis of the genital bones in harbour seals (Phoca vitulina) and Eurasian otters (Lutra lutra)

Luisa Merten: M.Sc. Automatized analysis of cervical range of motion in sloths: The functional significance of aberrant cervical counts

Julia Bolk: M.Sc. An analysis of vertebral morphology related to dominance-induced female growth in meerkats

Vera Bruhn: B.Sc. CT-based investigation of architectural parameters of the intrinsic foot musculature involved in hallucal grasping in Didelphimorphia

2021

Irene Montañez-Rivera: B.Sc. Cortical compactness in the humerus of xenarthrans

A paper based on Irene’s thesis with contributions from Eli Amson was published in the Journal of Anatomy „Bone cortical compactness in ‚tree sloths‘ reflects convergent evolution“.

M.Sc. Ongoing research as part of the integrative project of “Grasping grasping”

Lukas Löffler. M.Sc. Investigates the muscle moment arms of Musculus gluteus medius in caviomorph rodents in relation to their diverse locomotor behaviour.

Marilena Müller finished her Master’s thesis that focussed on the cervico-thoracic region of giraffes and other artiodactyls.

Tina Aschenbach. M.Sc. Her study is about Asian tree squirrels (Tamiops swinhoei).

Maja Mielke. M.Sc. Thesis „Bone Microstructure in Finite Element Modeling. The functional role of Trabeculae in the Femoral Head of Sciurus vulgaris„. Maja is currently persuing a Ph.D. in the lab of Peter Aerts in Antwerp, Belgium.

Falk Mielke. M.Sc. Thesis „Articular Surface Superimposition for Geometric Morphometric Analysis of Xenarthran Humerus Functional Morphology“. 2017. Falk’s thesis was awarded the „Humboldt Preis“ which is given to the two best theses of of the entire Humboldt University in each academic year! Falk went on to pursue his PhD in the lab of Peter Aerts at the University of Antwerp in Belgium.

Flavia Gavrilei. M.Sc. Thesis „Pelvis and femur of caviomorph rodents: a morphofunctional analysis using 3D geometric morphometrics“. 2017.

Vivian Schunke. M.Sc. Thesis „Der Einfluss der Größe des Versuchsaufbaus bei der Bewegungsanalyse am Beispiel von arborealen Hörnchen“ In German. 2017. A paper based on Vivi’s thesis with contributions from Falk Mielke and Jan Wölfer was published in Zoology „Motion analysis of non-model organisms using a hierarchical model: Influence of setup enclosure dimensions on gait parameters of Swinhoe’s striped squirrels as a test case„

Jenny Michel. B. Sc. Finished her thesis on kinematic adjustments of striped squirrels to supports of differing width and incline.

Susann Rosin. M.Sc. Thesis „Faszikelarchitektur und Sprungmuskulatur bei ausgewählten Caviomorpha: Chinchilla brevicaudata und Cavia porcellus“ in German. 2016. A paper based on Susi’s thesis was published in Zoomorphology „Hind limb extensor muscle architecture reflects locomotor specialisations of a jumping and a striding caviomorph rodent„

Mattias Stellbaum. B.Sc. Thesis „Funktionsmorphologische Untersuchung der Gestalt des Femurs ausgewählter Squamata“ in German. 2015.