MEMBERS
Research Group Leader
Project Coordinator
Dr. Finni Häußler
Finni grew up in the north of Germany. She
helps with the administrative organisation
for both groups. Furthermore,
Finni is responsible for the plant breeding and
reproduction. She will also help with
upcoming experiments.
+49 (0) 89 2180 71091
Postdoc
Dr. Manish Goel
Manish is from India and his primary research
focus is to develop novel computational
methods for comparing genome structures.
He is also interested in studying meiotic
recombination and making corresponding
predictive models.
PhD Student
Dr. Xiao Dong
Xiao Dong comes from China. Her research interest is
to investigate and understand the spectrum and
mechanism of mutation in plant genome. Her work
focuses on the analysis of variance in mutation
accumulation lines of Arabidopsis thaliana (Col-0)
which have been infected by pathogens.
Postdoc
Dr. Hequan Sun
Hequan Sun comes from China. His research
interests are mainly in developing
computational methods by integrating next
generation sequencing and genetics, as well
as understanding the origin of mutations
(e.g., in meristematic layers) during genome
evolution using computational techniques.
Postdoc
Dr. Samija Amar
Samija Amar comes from Serbia.
She only started in this group and will work on different
projects. Her main focus will be on creating single cell
genome and RNA libraries. With this effort genomic
changes (recombination, mutation) will be linked with
phenotype of various species (potato, A. thaliana,
Brassicaceae species, etc.).
Postdoc
Dr. Craig Dent
Craig comes from a small town in south-east Australia.
He has a background in both genetics and computer
science. He is interested in genetic variation, and
focuses on the development and application of
computational tools for genetic research.
Technician
Birgit Walkemeier
Birgit comes from Germany. She works part-time
for the group in Cologne. With her strong knowledge in
different molecular methods she is a strong and
essential support for the group.
Postdoc
Dr. Sergio Tusso
Sergio comes from Colombia. He is interested in
speciation genomics in diverse study systems, and in
general ecological and molecular factors resulting in
population divergence. His work focuses on
comparative genomics, experimental evolution, and
inference of molecular recombination from single
cell sequencing.
Postdoc
Dr. Raúl Wijfjes
Raúl’s main research interest lies in developing
strategies to link genomic and phenotypic variation
between different species of the Brassicaceae family.
While his first name suggests him to be of Spanish
origin, he actually hails from the Netherlands.
PhD
Lisa Correa Baus
Lisa comes from Ecquador. She is doing her
PhD. Duringher bioinformatic courses she gained a
deeper insightinto NGS and brought her to Cologne to
do her master thesis. Now she is back in Munich.
Postdoc (Guest scientist)
Dr. José Campoy
José comes from south of Spain. His main focus is to
decipher the basis of bud dormancy in temperate-fruit
trees tinkering with spontaneous-mutants,
single-cell sequencing, meristematic layers and
computational genetics.
Alumni
Mathieu Piednoel (Customer Agent Service, Cologne, Germany)
Geo Velikakkam James (Group Leader, Rijk Zwaan, plant breeder, The Netherlands)
Maria Cartolano (Postdoc, Univ of Cologne, Germany)
Vimal Rawat (Data Scientist, BASF, Germany)
Vipul Patel (Data Scientist, Göttingen, Germany)
Xue Dong (Postdoc, Kunming Univ, China)
Benjamin Hartwig (Founder of Neuroblitz, Germany)
Eva-Maria Willing (Bioinformatician, HpH Institut für Hämatopathologie, Hamburg, Germany)
Jonas Klasen (Data Scientist, Moia, Hamburg, Germany)
Karl Nordström (Senior Bioinformatics Scientist, Univ. des Saarlandes, Germany)
Maria Cartolano (Postdoc, Uniklinik Köln, Germany)
Rafa Campos (Bioinformatics Scientist, Uniklinik Köln, Germany)
Wen-Biao (Postdoc, China)
Kristin Krause (Inside Sales Account Manager, Illumina, Köln/Bonn, Germany)
Vidya Oruganti (BASF, Gent, Belgien)
Visitors
Erik Wijnker (Postdoc, Wageningen University, The Netherlands)
Luis Zapata (Postdoc, The Institut of Cancer Research, London, UK)
Andreas Madlung (Professor at University of Puget Sound, Seattle, US)