Research

In May 2001 I came to the Salk Institute for Biological Studies to work in Detlef Weigels lab on flower development in Arabidopsis thaliana and more specifically, on the Natural Variation of flowering time. Together with the Weigel lab I moved to Tübingen, Germany and I am currently working as a scientist in Detlef Weigel's department (Department for Molecular Biology) at the Max Plack Institute for Developmental Biology towards my PhD.
To develop gene silencing by artificial miRNAs for rice I have started collaborating with the International Rice Research Institute on the Philippines. We currently have a few more collaborative projects on hybrids and genetic mapping, both involving 2nd generation sequencers (Illumina).
In February 2010 I was awarded a fellowship to work part-time at the Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (IGB) in Berlin. Here we asses biodiversity in freshwater using the 454 facilities at the Berlin Center for Genomics in Biodiversitiy Research.

Current Projects

  • Using 2nd Generation Sequencing (Solexa/Illumina) for SNP/marker discovery, genotyping and BAC library fingerprinting
  • Method development for biodiversity assessments with the 454 sequencing platform (Roche)
  • Transcriptome Analysis of F1 hybrids
  • Explorative shutgun sequencing and constructing a genetic map of Arabis alpina
  • Gene silencing by various small RNAs in various plant species
  • Marker development and QTL mapping

Past Projects

  • Natural Variation at Flowering Locus T
  • Tracking down the florigen
  • The evolution of micro RNAs and their promoters
  • Detecting SNPs (MSQT)
  • Gene silencing by artificial miRNAs in Arabidopsis and rice
  • QTL mapping

Grants

  • Fellowship in Freshwater Sciences from the IGB Berlin (since Feb 2010)
  • Travel grant from DAAD to attend a Drought Workshop (Oct 2006) at the International Rice Research Institute [IRRI], Los Baños, Philippines
  • Masters thesis support from german student exchange council [DAAD]
  • Scholarship from the Max Planck Society (May 2001- Oct 2002)

Long Past Projects

As an undergrad I helped out in several projects and earned some acknowledgements:

Teaching

  • WS 2000/2001: Tutorial and assistance, Botany Course I: Morphology of plants for biologists
  • SS 2000: Tutorial and assistance, Botany Course for Biochemists