Inspiring and educating the next generation of scientists is a personal mission of mine. Therefore, I aim to participate as much as possible in diverse university courses, student supervision and non-university education. Besides the leadership of my lab I hold a lecturership (Lehrauftrag) at the Justus-Liebig-University of Gießen at the Institute for Insect Biotechnology. Here, my teaching activities are divided in two major fields. In my basic zoological module I teach the fundamentals of entomology covering insect evolutionary systematics, physiology and ecology. In the other field, I teach more translational subjects such as biomedical and bioeconomy aspects of venom and several biotechnology tools that can be applied to foster sustainability.

Supervised ECRs

Postdocs

• 04/2024-Current: Dr. Ignazio Avella (Venomics of Macrovipera ssp.)
• 03/2024-Current: Dr. Maik Damm (Venomics of rear-fanged snakes)
• 11/2023-Current: Dr. Sabine Hurka (Venom gland transcriptomics)
• 10/2023-Current: Dr. Jonas Krämer (Venomics of hematophagous Diptera)
• 04/2021-Current: Dr. Anne Paas (Novel heterologous expression strategies for toxins)

PhD students

• 03/2023-Current: M.Sc. Lennart Schulte (Venomics of Vipera berus)
• 03/2023-Current: M.Sc. Josephine Dresler (Spider venom enzymes)
• 11/2022-Current: M.Sc. Ludwig Dersch (Venomics of hematophagous Diptera)
• 03/2021-11/2023: M.Sc. Sabine Hurka (Venomics of myrmicine ants)

M.Sc. students

• 10/2024-Current: Antonia Stahlhut (Venom variation in Macrovipera)
• 07/2024-Current: Lilien Uhrig (Venomics of Kraits)
• 07/2023-05/2024: Ivonne Rodriguez (Heterologous expression of spider venom enzymes)
• 09/2022-03/2023: Lennart Schulte (Venomics of blunt nosed vipers, genus Macrovipera)
• 09/2022-02/2023: Hanna Dambeck (Heterologous expression of cysteine-rich ant toxins) 
• 12/2021-10/2022: Ludwig Dersch (Bioactivity profiling of wolf spider venom peptides) 

B.Sc. students

• 10/2024-Current: Ole Bohlken (Bioactivity of Mosquito toxins)
• 10/2024-Current: Janis Rappenecker (Expression of insect peptides)
• 09/2023-06/2023: Antonia Stahlhut (Bioactivity of engineered spider venom peptides)
• 06/2023-08/2023: Lilien Uhrig (Venomics of melanistic adders)

Other

• 05/2024-07/2024: Yachen Wang (Internship from University of the Sunshine Coast, Australia) 
• 01/2024-03/2024: Natalie Stiehler (Hessentechnikum internship) 
• 10/2023-12/2023: Lena Marie Herold (Hessentechnikum internship)
• 09/2023-12/2023: Ignazio Avella (EUVEN short term scientific mission)
• 01/2023-03/2023: Cleo A. Rosza (Hessentechnikum internship)
• 10/2022-12/2022: Laura Horn (Hessentechnikum internship)

University Teaching

SS2024

• Module: Entomologische Bestimmungsübungen at Justus-Liebig-University of Gießen B.Sc. Agrarwissenschaften, B.Sc. Umweltmanagement, Main Lecturer with Dr. Jonas Krämer (JLU), 6/12 lectures and practicals

WS2023/24

• Module: Sustainable Plant Protection at Justus-Liebig-University of Gießen M.Sc. Sustainable Transition, Main Lecturer with Dr. Thomas Degenkolb (JLU), 6/12 lectures and seminars

SS2023

• Module: Entomologische Bestimmungsübungen at Justus-Liebig-University of Gießen B.Sc. Agrarwissenschaften, B.Sc. Umweltmanagement, Main Lecturer with Dr. Antje Steinbrink (JLU), 7/12 lectures and practicals
• Module: Ringvorlesung Bioressourcen at Justus-Liebig-University of Gießen B.Sc., Nachwachsende Rohstoffe und Bioressourcen, Co-Lecturer, One lecture about venom in biomedicine
• Module: Entomology II at Justus-Liebig-University of Gießen M.Sc. Insect Biotechnology and Bioresources, Main Lecturer with PD Dr. Miray Rügen (JLU), 6/12 lectures 

WS2022/23

• Module: Sustainable Plant Protection at Justus-Liebig-University of Gießen M.Sc. Sustainable Transition, Main Lecturer with Dr. Thomas Degenkolb (JLU), 6/12 lectures and seminars

SS2022

• Module: Entomologische Bestimmungsübungen at Justus-Liebig-University of Gießen B.Sc. Agrarwissenschaften, B.Sc. Umweltmanagement, Main Lecturer with Dr. Antje Steinbrink (JLU), 7/12 lectures and practicals
• Module: Ringvorlesung Bioressourcen at Justus-Liebig-University of Gießen B.Sc., Nachwachsende Rohstoffe und Bioressourcen, Co-Lecturer, One lecture about venom in biomedicine

SS2018

• Module: Geländeübungen at Technical University of Braunschweig B.Sc. Geoökologie Teaching Assistant in practicals

WS2016/17

• Module: Grundlagen der Zoologie at Technical University of Braunschweig B.Sc. Biologie Teaching Assistant in practicals
• Module: Zoologische Großexkursion at Technical University of Braunschweig B.Sc. Biologie, M.SC. Biologie, B.Sc. Geoökologie Teaching Assistant in zoological excursion into the pyrenees (one week)

WS2015/16

• Module: Grundlagen der Zoologie at Technical University of Braunschweig B.Sc. Biologie Teaching Assistant in practicals
• Module: Zoologische Großexkursion at Technical University of Braunschweig B.Sc. Biologie, M.SC. Biologie, B.Sc. Geoökologie Teaching Assistant in zoological excursion into the pyrenees (one week)