Research interests

Nautilus

As a natural born palaeontologist, I lost my heart to the cephalopods. My research focuses not only on fossil and/or extinct members of the group but also the fascinating modern relatives such as Nautilus, Spirula, Sepia or Argonauta.

During my early career I studied the mineralized hardparts using the computed-tomography approach (including micro-Ct, nano-Ct and synchrotron radiation facilities). With this non-invasive approach we tried to answer some functional morphological questions. Nowadays I focus on cephalopod shell microstructures and associated biomineralization pathways. With my research I am trying to figure out how reliable cephalopod hardparts are as an archive of their environment. Therefore, a variety of proxy systems has been tested included microstructures as petrographic proxies, elemental distributions, crystallography and isotope proxies such as oxygen used for temperature reconstructions, carbon, and calcium (for more details see the publication list).

Since my time in Bochum (2009) I am more and more involved into research trying to understand carbonate alteration and the product of the diagenetic reactions. This is important due to their common use as proxies for both depositional and burial reconstructions of environmental conditions. Therefore, the petrographic and geochemical alteration of carbonate material using an experimental approach which involves the heating samples from various carbonate archives to different temporal and temperature regimes is applied. The selected range of laboratory conditions allows the determination of the type and extent of diagenesis in the hydrothermally altered (experimental) samples, with results ranging from no alteration to full recrystallization.


Teaching

My teaching activities largely cover the field of Palaeontology and Earth History but also microanalytical methods to B.Sc.- and M.Sc. students. Previously and actively (topmost) lectures include:

  • Lecture & practical: Palaeontology
  • Lecture: Earth History
  • Lecture and lab practicals: Electron Microbeam Analysis (together with Dr. N. Jöns)
  • Lecture: Biostratigraphy
  • Lecture: Methods in Stratigraphy
  • Lecture: Stratigraphy
  • Lecture: Biomineralization (in parts)
  • Lecture: Cephalopods – their biology and palaeontology
  • Lecture: Ichnology


Curriculum vitae breve

  • Since July 2019: Laboratory supervisor, Microanalytical Lab, Scanning electron microscope, Cathodoluminescence optical microscope, Ruhr-Universitaet Bochum.
  • 2016-2018: DFG funded research position
  • August 2009-2016: Research Assistant, Ruhr-Universitaet Bochum
  • April 2009: Dr. rer. nat. in palaeontology
  • 2005-2009: Doctorate student in palaeontology (Freie Universitaet Berlin)
  • 2005: Diploma in Geosciences
  • 1998-2005: Student of Geosciences, Freie Universitaet Berlin
  • 2018: Lehrgang: R-1 Akademie für Elektronenmikroskopie und Analytik gGmbH
  • 2020: Lehrgang: R-2 Akademie für Elektronenmikroskopie und Analytik gGmbH



Publications

Biological Reviews Cover

Please follow the link to see a list of my scientific publications.

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