Lab denizens

Dr Simone C. Cappellari Rabeling

Simone's page can be found here.

Dr Alessia Russo

Alessia is working on the Ophrys sphegodes reference genome.

Mattia Alessandrini

Mattia is working on the development of Ophrys flowers.

Sara E. Garcia Morales

Sara is working on Ophrys population genomics.

Chengwei Wang

Chengwei is trying to understand the regulation of expression of genes involved in sex pheromone biosynthesis in Ophrys.

Aylin Bersch

Aylin is working on biosynthetic enzymes involved in the production of pollinator-attractive alkenes in Ophrys.

Noa Schwabe

Noa is working on flower traits that influence pollinator behaviour, working with Ophrys and Orchis species, continuing work she started during her MSc project.

This includes work on flower features such as trichomes and flower geometry.

Maria Pàmies Harder

I am an environmental and evolutionary biologist interested in evolution, biogeography and species interactions. I previously worked in phylogenetic reconstructions in Coleoptera and Odonata. Now, my PhD project (part of the FLINT initiative) focuses on the phenological mismatch of the Ophrys orchids and their pollinators and on the fitness consequences this asynchrony may have. I am also studying the plant-pollinator community of this system to identify which entomophilous plants provide food resources to the bees that pollinate Ophrys.

Reinhard Zipper

Reinhard is our brilliant lab tech and keeps our lab running.