Kelechi will bring in strong expertise in metabolomics, hemolymph sampling and circadian analysis from his PhD with our collaborators Agnes Fekete and Martin Müller from Biological Pharmacy at the JvS-Institute, Biocenter JMU.

Many species synchronize reproductive behavior with a particular phase of the lunar cycle to increase reproductive success. In humans, a lunar influence on reproductive behavior remains controversial, although the human menstrual cycle has a period close to that of the lunar cycle. Here, we analyzed long-term menstrual recordings of individual women with distinct methods for biological rhythm analysis.

Sander and Chris participated in an effort lead by Jens Habenstein and Wolfgang Rössler (Zoology II, WIR, Biocenter JMU) and Susanne Neupert (U Kassel), together with Reinhard Predel (U Cologne) on peptidomics and mass spectrometric imaging of neuropeptides in the ant brain. The results now appeared openaccess in the Journal of Neurochemistry

A bigger project during our CRC1047 "Insect timing" focussed on eclosion timing under quasi-natural conditions, involving three different teams: Franzi, Simon and Chris; as well as Melanie and Dirk from our Chair, plus Oliver Mitesser and Thomas Hovestadt from the Theoretical Evolutionary Ecology Group. The results suggest that under temperate conditions in Würzburg, a functional circadian clock is required to stably and precisely time eclosion. For more, see the open access article in SRBR's Journal of Biological Rhythms

The DFG granted a new collaborative research project on the role of the protein kinase RSK on circadian clock modulation, neuronal plasticity and behavioural timing in Drosophila