News 2015

The first talk in this year's "The Growth of the Evolutionary Thought" lecture series was given by Prof. Joachim Kurtz who presented a "A brief history of evolutionary theories". The interdisciplinary lecture series deals with aspects of evolution within the disciplines Biology, Medicine, Geosciences, and Philosophy and provides an in-depth introduction to the history and philosophy of evolutionary science. It is organized by Dr. Francesco Catania and takes place on Wednesdays between 8.45 - 10.00 in the Kavaliershäuschen. In addition to Principle Investigators of the MGSE, the graduate school is happy to welcome also experts from the Universities of Kiel, Essen, and Bochum to present their research. Together with a weekly series of Journal Clubs, the lecture series is part of an interdisciplinary Advanced Module (Fortgeschrittenen-Modul) for Master's and PhD students. More information

The 5th annual MGSE Symposium was held on 20 – 21 October 2015 in Münster. More than 50 participants met in Münster’s city palace and its norther cavalier house, which provided an historic ambience to exchange ideas, discuss current research, and broaden perspectives on “Evolutionary Medicine”.
As in past years, the MGSE Symposium provided the doctoral students with the opportunity to present and discuss their ongoing PhD projects and to learn about studies taking place in other faculties and departments of the graduate school. Their posters and presentations were embedded into exciting contributions from Principle Investigators Stephan Ludwig, Monika Stoll, and Norbert Sachser. The program was completed by three keynote lectures by distinguished invited speakers: Edward Hagen, Washington State University Vancouver, challenged the current reward models of psychoactive drug seeking and use with the hypothesis that humans may have evolved to exploit plant-neurotoxins. Ted Morrow, University of Sussex, outlined current ideas about the evolutionary origins of sex differences in disease and described the approach his laboratory takes to identify genes with sex-specific effects in Drosophila melanogaster. Frank Rühli, University of Zurich, presented the wider impact of evolutionary medicine for the understanding of modern human health issues and diseases and showed the very latest research results on morphological and genetic evolutionary changes in humans.
The MGSE would like to thank everybody who took part in the symposium and helped to create a very stimulating and successful meeting in a friendly and relaxed atmosphere!
Pictures and more information

The first talk in the newly launched Science Pub Series was a big success. Around 150 people came to the Café Flechtheims at Münster's harbour to listen to Dr. Jan Ole Kriegs from the LWL-Museum für Naturkunde talking about the current status of the mammal fauna in North Rhine-Westphalia. Assisted by moderator Bernd Brorman, Dr. Kriegs started his talk with an amusing quiz in which the audience learnt that wild cats are attracted by a certain Calvin Klein cologne and that lynxes are customers of hessian supermarkets. Afterwards he gave an interesting overview of which mammals can be found in our area, where they come from and which methods are used to detect and identify them. The informal lecture was followed by an open question and answer period.
The Science Pub is jointly organized by the Westfälischer Naturwissenschaftlicher Verein e.V., the LWL-Museum für Naturkunde, MT Mediendesign, and the Münster Graduate School of Evolution with Prof. Hans-Dieter Görtz as major initiator and Proinnovera as Sponsor. The overall aim is to promote understanding of and enthusiasm for science in the public. The next Science Pub will take place on 16 November 2015 with MGSE Principle Investigator Prof. Dr. Harald Strauß who will talk about "Mal Gift, mal Lebenselixier – Sauerstoffentwicklung in der Erdgeschichte“. More information

We are happy to announce that François Pellet and Sergio Avila have joined the MGSE as graduate students. François does his PhD at the Department of Philosophy under the supervision of Ulrich Krohs. In his project he will work on the concept of disease in individualized medicine. Sergio started his PhD in the Evolution and Sexual Conflict Group of Claudia Fricke at the Institute for Evolution and Biodiversity. In his doctoral project he will try to shed light on the evolution of the link between reproduction and immunity in Drosophila melanogaster. Francois and Sergio are DAAD scholarship holders in course of the DAAD Graduate School Scholarship Programme. The MGSE was selected by the DAAD in Spring 2014 to nominate and host 4 international graduate students within this programme. We welcome the new students and wish them a good start in Münster!

We are happy to announce that Angela Noll has successfully defended her PhD thesis entitled "Computational tools and their application in Retrogenomics", supervised by PD Dr. Jürgen Schmitz at the Institute of Experimental Pathology. Angela has already continued with a postdoctoral position at the German Primate Center in Göttingen. We offer Angela our warmest congratulations and wish her well in her future career!

Together with ETT-Fellow Alexander Bolshoy (Institute of Evolution, Haifa University) the MGSE organized a workshop on "Multiple DNA Codes" on 28 - 29 September 2015 in Münster. The workshop was opened by Alexander Bolshoy with an introduction to sequence biology, before Edward Trifonov (Institute of Evolution, Haifa University) reported on nucleosome positioning patterns in his talk on "Chromatin code today". The second day of the workshop started with a talk by Olga Ozoline (Institute of Cell Biophysics, Russian Academy of Sciences) on "Code of transcription initiation in E. coli" in which she focussed on the biological role and evolution of promoter islands. Finally, Philipp Bucher (Swiss Institute for Experimental Cancer Research, EPFL) ended the lecture part of the workshop with his talk on "The role of DNA sequence motifs and positioned nucleosomes in Eukaryotic transcription start site selection". The talks formed the basis for a round table discussion in the afternoon in which PhD students and senior researchers met to discuss latest concepts and hypothesis in computational biology. More information

A meeting report on the MGSE workshop on "Evolutionary Aspects of Allorecognition: From Intraspecific Conflicts to Links with Adaptive Immunity " with ETT-Fellow Loriano Ballarin has now been published as letter to the editor in the Invertebrate Survival Journal. The workshop took place on 6 - 7 July and focused on the evolutionary aspects of allorecognition and the potential links to immune systems. The meeting report can be downloaded here.

Last weekend, Prof. Dr. Olga Vasilieva arrived in Münster, who is visiting the MGSE as an ETT-Fellow until the beginning of December 2015. Prof. Vasilieva is a Full Professor at the Department of Mathematics at the Universidad del Valle in Cali, Colombia.  Her research interests include, e.g., population and epidemiological modeling, applications of optimization techniques in economics, biology, ecology, and epidemiology, and mathematical methods and models for sustainable management of natural resources. During her stay, Prof. Vasilieva will collaborate with the group of Arndt Telschow.
Please note that Prof. Vasilieva will give a talk on "Optimal Control Theory and Dengue Fever" on 10 November 2015 at 16.30 at the CeNoS Kolloquium in room 222 of the Institute for Applied Physics (Corrensstr. 2).
We welcome Prof. Vasilieva and look forward to an inspiring time in Münster!

In cooperation with the Center for Nonlinear Science (CeNoS) the MGSE organized a workshop on "Nonlinear Dynamics in Biology - From Time Series to Knowledge" on 25 - 26 August 2015 in Münster. The workshop kicked off in the historic ambience of Münster's city palace with inspiring talks by theoreticans working on nonlinear dynamics and empirical researchers working on eco-evolutionary questions. It was demonstrated how dynamical thinking can lead to new research questions in life sciences by focusing on specific empirical systems including Anopheles mosquitoes and the human microbiome. Moreoever, the issue of appropriate data collection was problematized, which is critical to make full usage of nonlinear time series analysis. In addition to talks by internal speakers from Münster, the CeNoS and the MGSE were happy to welcome ETT-Fellow Chih-Hao Hsieh from the National Taiwan University, Vasilis Dakos from the Institute of Integrative Biology at the ETH Zürich, and Elena Levashina from the MPI for Infection Biology in Berlin as guest speakers. On the second day of the workshop, interested partcipants joined in the Kavaliershäuschen to discuss in more detail how nonlinear dynamics can be applied in specific biological systems.

On 18 August 2015, ETT-Fellow Alexander Bolshoy introduced himself to the MGSE with a lecture on "Combinatorial Optimization Methods as Tools in Evolutionary Genomics of Prokaryotes" in the Kavaliershäuschen. Prof. Bolshoy presented, e.g., a method for whole-genome prokaryotic clustering based on gene length and approaches to reveal evolutionary driving factors underlying variation in prokaryotic gene length. Afterwards speaker and audience joined for a social get-together with some drinks and pretzels to discuss the topic in more detail.

Last weekend, Prof. Chih-hao Hsieh arrived in Münster, who is visting the MGSE as an ETT-Fellow until the end of August 2015. Prof. Hsieh (Zac) is a Professor at the Institute of Oceanography and Institute of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the National Taiwan University in Taipei City, Taiwan. His research interests include statistics, theoretical ecology, zooplankton ecology, biological oceanography, and fisheries but he is open to collaborate with experts from diverse fields, even beyond aquatic science and ecology. Prof. Hsieh recieved several Young Scientis awards for his research and was also awareded as one of the Ten Outstanding Young Persons of Taiwan in 2014. During his stay he will be actively involved in a workshop on "Nonlinear Dynamics in Biology: From Time Series to Knowledge" which is organized by the MGSE in cooperation with the Center for Nonlinear Science (CeNoS).
We welcome Prof. Hsieh and look forward to an inspiring time in Münster!

Together with ETT-Fellow Loriano Ballarin (University of Padova, IT) the MGSE organized a workshop on "Evolutionary Aspects of Allorecognition: From Intraspecific Conflicts to Links with Adaptive Immunity" on 6-7 July 2015 in Münster. The workshop was opened by Loriano Ballarin with a keynote lecture on allorecognition as a common phenomenon in nature and with special regard to metazoans including the colonial ascidian Botryllus schlosseri.  His talk was followed by Baruch Rinkevich (National Institute of Oceanography, Haifa, IL) who gave fascinating insights into chimerism as an important evolutionary tool manipulating metazoans' life history portraits. The talks formed the basis for the Knowledge Café on the second day of the workshop in which the participants discussed, e.g. the relation of allorecogntion with immunity, the origin and evolution of acquired immunity, and the role of chimerisms in shaping immune systems. Finally, the workshop ended with a keynote lecture by Louis Du Pasquier (University of Basel, CH) on analogies and homologies in the somatic generation of immune repertoires of metazoans.
In addition to the scietific part, a barbecue on the first evening and a dinner at the Aasee on the second evening gave the participants yet another chance to discuss, network, and socialise in a relaxed surrounding. Pictures

On Tuesday, Prof. Dr. Alexander Bolshoy arrived in Münster, who is visiting the MGSE as an ETT-Fellow until the end of September 2015. Alexander Bolshoy is an Associate Professor at the Department of Evolutionary and Environmental Biology and a member of the Institute of Evolution at the University of Haifa, Israel. He is interested in Computational Molecular Biology, Molecular Evolution, Structural Biology and Bioinformatics with the major goal to reveal the biological role of certain evolutionary preserved genomic patterns using statistical and other methods of sequence comparison. Prof. Bolshoy will introduce himself to the MGSE with a lecture on "Combinatorial Optimization Methods as Tools in Evolutionary Genomics of Prokaryotes" on 4 August at 17.00 in the Kavaliershäuschen.
We welcome Prof. Bolshoy and look forward to an inspiring time in Münster!

The MGSE students met with ETT-Fellow Loriano Ballarin to visit the Allwetterzoo in Münster.  With beautiful sunshine, the trip started with a boat ride on the Lake Aasee with the solar boat SOLAARIS, which shuttles guests from the city centre to the Aasee attractions during the summer months. Afterwards, the group enjoyed a relaxing stroll in the Zoo grounds, having some ice cream and watching some of the approx. 3.000 animals living in the Allwetterzoo.

Yesterday, Prof. Dr. Loriano Ballarin arrived in Münster, who is visiting the MGSE as an ETT-Fellow until 22 July 2015. Loriano Ballarin is an Associate Professor of Zoology at the Department of Biology at the University of Padova, Italy, where he teaches Zoology and Comparative Immunobiology. His research interests include Ascidian immunobiology, allorecognition, Tunicate haemocyte differentiation, apoptosis and recognition of apoptotic cells and corpses. During his stay Prof. Ballarin will organize a workshop on "Evolutionary Aspects of Allorecognition" on 6-7 July 2015. We welcome Prof. Ballarin and look forward to an inspiring time in Münster!

Together with ETT-Fellow Mitchell Green, the MGSE organized a workshop on the “Evolution of Meaning” on 11 June in the Kavaliershäuschen. The workshop was opened by Mitchell Green with a key note on "Organic Meaning: An Account of the Origins of Semanticity with Minimal Appeal to Minds", before Nikola Kompa from the University of Osnabrück summarized the key points of her latest publication on language evolution and linguistic norms. During a Knowledge Café, participants tried to elucidate, e.g., how and why do signals evolve or what role do intention, cognitive states and normativity play in the evolution of communication. Finally, Klaudia Witte from the University of Siegen approached the topic from a biological perspective in a key note lecture on “How and Why Social Information Matters in Sexual Selection”. After the workshop, participants joined for a social dinner at the “Altes Gasthaus Leve” to taste some traditional Münster food. Pictures

Our new ETT-Fellow Prof. Mitchell Green introduced himself to the MGSE with a lecture entitled "Biological signaling sheds light on both the ontogeny and phylogeny of language" in the lecture hall of the IEB. Afterwards the participants of the lecture joined for a social get-together with some drinks and pretzels to welcome the new fellow and discuss his work.

Last weekend Prof. Mitchell Green arrived in Münster, who is visiting the MGSE as an ETT-Fellow until 15 June 2015. Mitchell Green is a Professor at the Department of Philosophy at the University of Connecticut, USA, with a focus in the philosophy of language, philosophy of mind, and aesthetics. Currently he is conducting research in the areas of evolutionary biology of communication, speech acts and their role in conversation, empathy, self-knowledge, self-expression, and attitude ascription. Prof. Green will introduce himself to the MGSE with a public lecture on “Biological signaling sheds light on both the ontogeny and phylogeny of language” on Thursday, 21 May 2015 at 16:15 in the lecture hall of the IEB (HHü, Hüfferstr. 1). Moreoever, Prof. Green will be involved in a workshop on the “Evolution of Meaning” on 11 June 2015. We welcome Prof. Green and look forward to an inspiring time in Münster!

Students of the Advanced module "Evolutionary Medicine" presented their research projects during a poster session at the Insitute for Evolution and Biodiversity. While the supervisors of the projects and other interested guests moved through the posters, the students were on hand to answer questions and provide additional details. This year's topics inlcuded: Experimental analyses of transposons, Next-Generation Sequencing and data analysis, effects of phosphorylation on the M1 protein of 2009 pandemic H1N1, the evolution of the regulation of horizontally acquired genes, and MRSA outbreak investigation using Next-Generation Sequencing.

Together with ETT-Fellow Michio Kondoh, the MGSE organized a workshop on ecological community, interspecific interactions and their dynamics-related consequences. In the course of several public lectures and a "Knowledge café", graduate students, postdocs and PIs of the MGSE and affiliated institutes met in the Kavaliershäuschen to share basic concepts and recent important developments in the field of community ecology. Invited guests were Louis-Félix Bersier (University of Fribourg, Switzerland), Carlos Melian (Eawag, Kastanienbaum, Switzerland), and Elisa Thébault (Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris, France). On Wednesday evening the participants of the workshop joined for a social dinner. More information

Prof. Michio Kondoh introduced himself to the MGSE with a lecture a lecture entitled “Complexity of interaction network and "unexpected" response of ecological communities” in the Kavaliershäuschen. Afterwards the participants of the lecture joined for a social get-together with some drinks and pretzels to welcome the new fellow and discuss his research. More information

Graduate Students, Postdocs and PIs of the MGSE and affiliated institutes met in the Kavaliershäuschen to discuss about match-mismatch hypotheses and effects on Darwinian fitness. The workshop comprised a “Knowledge Café”, a “Zukunftswerkstatt”, and three public lectures by Tobias Krause (University of Bielefeld, Germany), Andrew Janczak (Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Oslo, Norway), and Lindsay Matthews (University of Auckland, New Zealand), who also attended the following discussion. On Tuesday evening the participants of the workshop joined for a social dinner. More information