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.

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“.

Timo Berghäuser. M.Sc. Research about sex specific bone morphology and on the glenoid thickness in Sciuromorpha.

Lennart Eigen. M.Sc. Investigates the structure of tesserae that build the carapace of Ostraciidae (Teleostei) and compare these patterns from an ontogentic and phylogenetic perspective. His thesis is part of the »Tessellated Materials Systems« setting in the interdisciplinary project „Matters of Activity“.

Irene Montañez-Rivera. B.Sc. Thesis „Cortical compactness in the humerus of xenarthrans“. 2017. 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”, investigating pedal grasping adaptations of small arboreal mammals at a muscular level.

Mai-Lee Van Le. M.Sc. Research on the tessellated surface of the armadillo armour.

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.