01 May 11
Lab news will from now on only be posted on the lab's Facebook page!
22 Mar 11
Philip Nemoy, PhD student from the Recanati Institute for Marine Studies (University of Haifa, Israel) ends his 4-week visit to the lab where he learned the skills of sponge molecular taxonomy and identification.
21-22 Mar 11
Klemi and Gert attend the 1st International Symposium on Sponge Microbiology in Würzburg (Germany). Klemi gives talk and presents a poster on her PhD research.
15 Mar 11
Gert co-authors a new paper on phylogenomics published in PLoS Biology.
23-24 Feb 11
Mike Reich from the Geomuseum in Göttingen visits to work with us on Deep Downunder material.
14 Feb 11
Julia Almes hands in her Diplomarbeit. Congratulations!
11 Feb 11
Research Associate Position in the lab advertised. English Version.
12-13 Jan 11
Gert invited to give seminars at the University of Würzburg (Prof. Ute Hentschel) and Museum Koenig (Bonn, Prof. Heike Waegele) on non-bilaterian phylogenomics.
24 Dec 10
Merry Christmas and a happy New Year!
13-17 Dec 10
Iiris, Julia, Cat & Gert attend the European Coral Reef Symposium in Wageningen (NL) to present the lab's research in two talks and two posters.
25 Nov 10
Gert co-authors a paper in Nature Chemistry with collaborator Hermann Ehrlich (TU Dresden): "Mineralization of the metre-long biosilica structures of glass sponges is templated on hydroxylated collagen".
24-27 Nov 10
Sally Leys (University of Alberta, Canada) visits the lab and gives a seminar.
29/21 Nov 10
Olli and Gert present the lab's research at the 52. Phylogenetic Symposium in Munich.
15 Nov 10
Sergio Vargas is currently on board the German research Vessel "Meteor" (Cruise M83 Leg 2) to the Ampere Seamount (W of the Strait of Gibraltar in the Atlantic). The aim of the expedition is to increase the understanding of seamount ecosystems by using a multidisciplinary approach. The cruise started at the Cape Verde Islands and will end before christmas in Cadiz (Spain).
28 Oct 10
Miranda Vidgen from the University of Queensland visited our lab for five weeks to work on population diversity of the Great Barrier Reef sponges. She is now heading back to the australian summer - hope to see you again soon, Miranda!
11-15 Oct 10
We are conducting a workshop/lab course on "Methods in Molecular Paleobiology" with participants of last weeks conference and students of Geosciences.
6-8 Oct 10
We participate in hosting the 80th Annual Meeting of the German Palaeontological Association in Munich where we convene two symposia, (1) "Molecular Paleobiology" and (2) "Fragile Earth - Reefs and Environment".
20-24 Sept 10
Most of the lab attends the VIII World Sponge Conference in Girona (Spain) where we present five contributed talks, one Keynote lecture, and 15 contributions as posters.
6-16 Sept 10
Cat, Olli & Gert run a field course at the Laboratoire Arago in Banyuls-sur-mer (Southern France) in collaboration with Prof. G. Haszprunar (LMU Zoology).
19 Aug 10
New paper on NUMTs in the sponge genome published in Molecular Biology and Evolution (Advance Access).
12-16 Aug 10
John Benzie (University College Cork, Ireland) visits the lab to work with us on the phylogeography of crown-of-thorns starfish.
9 Aug 10
The lab heads north to a quarry near Mülheim (Altmühltal) for a day out and to hunt for fossils in the famous Jurassic Plattenkalk (Mörnsheimer Schichten)...
4 Aug 10
Claire Larroux, currently Humboldt-Fellow in the lab, co-authors paper in Nature on the first sponge genome ever sequenced. Gert comments on importance of this study in a news article (InsideScience).
25 Jun 10
New paper on Red Sea sponges published (online first) in Organisms Diversity and Evolution.
23 Jun 10
John Hooper (Queensland Museum, Brisbane, Australia) holds workshop on sponge biodiversity and taxonomy.
18 Jun 10
Gert invited to give a talk at symposium "Phylogenomics: New Perspectives for Phylogenetic Studies" at University of Geneva, Switzerland. See Poster.
4-28 June 10
John Hooper, world leading expert on the biodiversity of australasian sponges based at the Queensland Museum in Brisbane (Australia), visits the lab on a fellowship of the Australian Academy of Sciences to work on several projects (e.g. Sponge Barcoding Project, Deep DownUnder).
09 Jun 10
New paper on cave amphipods in the chemoautotrophic cave ecosystem of Frasassi, central Italy, published in BMC Evolutionary Biology (open access).
26 May 10
Deep DownUnder Expedition featured on German prime time TV, ZDF "Abenteuer Wissen".
9-12 May 10
Gert attends the VW Status Symposium in Evolutionary Biology on the Frauenchiemsee (Bavaria).
3-12 May 10
Sergio attends EMBO's practical course on Computational Molecular Evolution at the Hellenic Centre for Marine Research in Crete (Greece).
04 May 10
The lab has its own page on Facebook.
03 May 10
Dr. Claire Larroux from Brisbane (Australia) joins the lab for 12 months on a Humboldt-Fellowship to work on evo-devo of sponges! Welcome!
16 Apr 2010
Science Magazine Editor's choice features our latest paper in Geobiology: "Sowing the Seeds of Spherulites"
08 Apr 10
New paper "Improved phylogenomic taxon sampling noticeably affects non-bilaterian relationships " published in Molecular Biology and Evolution (open access)
1 Apr 10
New paper on DNA barcoding of sponges published in PLoS ONE (open access).
29 Mar 10
New paper on microbe-sponge interaction published online in Geobiology: An evolutionary fast-track to biocalcification.
11 Mar 10
Focus online (a German magazine) is featuring the Deep Downunder-Expedition at their Video-Portal (in German).
7/8 Mar 10
Deutsche Welle TV is broadcasting a feature story on the Deep DownUnder Expedition, worldwide via Satellite. It is avaialable in German (Projekt Zukunft: content) and English (Tomorrow Today: content).
7 Mar 10
Open house at Palaeontology & Geobiology Munich! Look behind the scenes and leran more about what we do!
27/28 Feb 10
The lab heads off to the mountains for a retreat. We also welcome Dr. Tetyana Nosenko, who will work with us for 24 months on Deep Metazoan Phylogeny!
22 - 26 Feb 10
We have the first Molecular Palaeobiology Lab Course in the new labs!
8 Feb 10
The new pages about our new labs are online.
19 Jan 10
Ratih departs to Leiden to work for a few weeks at Naturalis.
11 Jan 10
Cat, Klemi and Gert safely return from the fabulous Deep Downunder Expedition.
31 Dec 09
A happy and successful new year 2010 to everyone! And a warm welcome to Dr. Azizur Rahman (Humboldt-Fellow) who will be working with us for 24 months on biocalcification!
31 Dec 09
New paper on mitochondrial genomics of sponges published in BMC Genomics. 
24 Nov 2009
Klemi, Cat and Gert depart for the Deepdownunder-Expedition, that will take them out to the Coral Sea in Australia from Nov. 30 until Dec. 20, 2009. Feel free to follow at the expedition blog.
2 Nov 09
A very warm welcome to our two new technicians in the lab, Simone Schätzle and Gabi Büttner!
2 Nov 09
The new seawater-aquaria have been set up and are currently running in.
01 Oct 09
A warm welcome to our new PhD student Ratih Aryasari from Indonesia, who will be working the the molecular biodiversity and ecology of East-Asian marine invertebrates!
24 Sep - 08 Oct 09
Cat, Olli and Gert organise their annual coral reef field course in Dahab (Egypt). See the field course blog with the latest news...
21 Sep 09
Post-Doc position in phylogenomics of non-bilaterian animals available (closing date Oct. 15, 2009).
14-17 Sep 09
Cat and Nina attend Southeast Asian Gateway Evolution Meeting in London to present the lab's research on the phylogeography and population genetics of Indo-Pacific starfish.
7-11 Sep 09
Cat and Gert attend HOTSPOTS meeting in Herrsching (south of Munich). Thanks to Cat and Helen Hipperson for organizing this event!
31 Aug 09
Lab refurbishment completed, we move in our brand new labs! Big thanks to everyone involved during reconstruction and moving!
10-14 Aug 09
Olli, Martin & Gert attend the SYSTEMATICS 2009 conference in Leiden (NL) to present the lab's research (two talks, one poster).
02 June 09
A warm welcome to our new lab members Nina Yasuda (JSPS Post-Doc Fellow, Hiroshima, Japan), Martin Dohrmann (DFG Post-Doc), and Sergio Vargas (DFG PhD student from Costa Rica)!
23-30 May 09
Cat and Gert are visiting South Valley University (Qena, Egypt) from 23-20 May 2009 to foster the Academic and Student Exchange Agreement that was signed in February 2009. During the visit they will also conduct field work on pleistocene and recent coral reefs in the Red Sea.
28 Apr 09
Paper on early animal evolution finally published in print in Current Biology. Max Telford writes very nice Dispatch "Animal Evolution: Once upon a time" in the same issue.
16 Apr 09
Gert presents the Sponge Barcoding Project at MarBOL (DNA Barcoding of Marine Biodiversity) workshop in Bremerhaven (Germany). Download flyer.
06 Apr 09
Gert joins Board of Directors of the Munich Graduate Program for Evolution, Ecology and Systematics (EES).
02 Apr 09
Early family ties – No sponge in the human family tree. New paper published in Current Biology: Phylogenomics revives traditional views on deep animal relationships. LMU press release.
18 Feb 09
Gert becomes core faculty of the Munich Graduate Program for Evolution, Ecology and Systematics (EES).
12 Feb 09
Academic and Student Exchange Agreement signed with the Faculty of Science of South Valley University (Qena, Egypt) to enhance bilateral research on the geology, geobiology and biodiversity of the Red Sea basin.
04 Feb 09
New paper on the phylogeny of Hexactinellida (glass sponges) published in Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution.
12 Jan 09
Gert elected as the new spokesman of the Executive Board of the Geobio-CenterLMU.
31 Dec 08
Gert becomes Associate Editor of BMC Evolutionary Biology.
24 Dec 08
Merry Christmas to everyone and all the best for 2009!
22 Dec 08
ZOOTAXA (where Gert is an editor for Porifera) had the highest percent increase in total cites compared with other journals in its field, according to a recent editorial by its Chief Editor and Founder, Dr. Zhi-Qiang Zhang. Congratulations!
09 Dec 08
Gert attends the official closing ceremony of the German International Year of the Reef (IYOR) initiative at the Museum fuer Naturkunde in Berlin. some Press (in German). Radio interview (in German: inforadio.de)
02 Dec 08
Our recent article on crown-of-thorns starfish makes the cover of Biology Letters!
20 Nov 08
New paper published in Global Change Biology (Cover Image): Beyond corals and fish: the effects of climate change on non-coral benthic invertebrates of tropical reefs. See press release.
01 Oct 08
Starfish really a gang of four. New paper on crown-of-thorns starfish published in Biology Letters. Some feedback from the international press: Canberra Times (AUS), Herald Sun (AUS).
01 Oct 08
Gert takes up the Chair of Palaeontology at the Department for Earth- and Environmental Sciences at the LMU in Munich. The lab will move during the remainder of the year. This website will be updated soon with the new details.
10 Sept 08
Cat departs for HOTSPOTS training course in Tanzania.
09-10 Sept 08
After safely returning from Australia (see field course blog) Gert heads to Erlangen to chair symposium and workshop on "Molecular Paleobiology" at the annual conference of the German Palaeontological Society.
14 Aug 08
Mike Reich and Gert depart to Australia to conduct field course "Biodiversity and Geobiology of coastel ecosystems in Australia" at Moreton Bay Research Station and Lady Elliot Island, Great Barrier Reef. The course is supported by the DAAD and the Universitätsbund Göttingen.
07 Aug 08
Gert departs to Oslo to present invited talk "Molecular Palaeobiology: Biomineralisation" at the 33rd International Geological Congress (Symposium BGB-01 General contributions to Biogeoscience) on Friday 8 August 2008.
26 July 08
New open access paper published: Voigt, O., Erpenbeck, D. Wörheide, G. 2008. A fragmented metazoan organellar genome: the two mitochondrial chromosomes of Hydra magnipapillata. BMC Genomics 9:350.
05 July 08
Cat and Gert depart to attend the 11th International Coral Reef Symposium in Ft. Lauderdale (USA) to present our research on Acanthaster phylogeography and sponge paleogenomics.
19 June 08
Martin departs to Minneapolis (University of Minnesota, USA) to present the lab's research on the phylogeny of sponges at the Evolution 2008 conference.
05 June 08
First molecular phylogeny of glass sponges (Hexcatinellida) published in Systematic Biology.
13-16 May 08
Gert represents the Sponge Barcoding Project at the International Workshop on Barcoding of Deep-Sea Organisms at the German Centre for Marine Biodiversity Research in Wilhelmshaven.
08 May 08
Cat safely arrives back home after additional successful days of collecting in Fujairah (Emirates).
01 May 08
Gert safely arrived back from field work in Oman. Successful trip. Cat stays on to do more work in the Emirates (Fujairah).
19 April 08
Cat and Gert depart for field work in Oman.
8-10 April 08
The lab presents several posters and one talk at the Systematics2008 conference in Göttingen.
11 March 08
Gert becomes faculty member of the Göttingen Graduate School for Neuro- and Molecular Biosciences (GGNB).
23 Feb 08
Gert gives invited talk on "The evolution and phylogeny of sponges (Phylum Porifera)" at the 100. Zoological Colloqium in Dresden.
26 Jan 08
New open access article on sponge phylogeography published in BMC Evolutionary Biology.
25 Jan 08
The 'International Year of the Reef 2008' launched at BOOT trade fair in Düsseldorf (Germany). Some pictures.
24 Jan 08
Reef Check receives the "Award of Honour" from 'tauchen' magazine (one of Europe's largest diving magazines) at the BOOT trade fair in Düsseldorf. See some pictures: Chris, Georg, Marcos & Gert at the ceremony.
01 Jan 08
Happy New Year, all the best and maximum success for 2008!
21 Dec 07
New open access paper published: Erpenbeck, D., Wörheide, G., 2007. On the molecular phylogeny of sponges (Porifera). Linnaeus Tercentenary: Progress in Invertebrate Taxonomy. Zootaxa 1668, 107–126.
21 Dec 07
2007 Breakthrough of the Year, Areas to watch (selected by Science Magazine): Paleogenomics, featuring our June 29 Paper.
13 Dec 07
The Barcode of Life Blog features our recent work in the Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the UK special volume on sponges: DNA Taxonomy; DNA Taxonomy of Caribbean demosponges.
10 Dec 07
"Deep Down Under" Project website launched.
24/25 Nov 07
The lab nearly completely attends the 49th Phylogenetic Symposium at Senckenberg in Frankfurt. This year's theme: "The origin of multicellularity". Gert to give invited lecture on "Evolution and phylogeny of sponges (Phylum Porifera)".
20 Nov 07
Deep Ocean Australia project website launched.
29 Oct 07
The Parliament Magazine features our Marie-Curie project "SPONGE-EVOLUTION". PDF of article, PDF of full issue
31 Oct 07
We invite applications for three new tenure-track Professorships in Geobiology. Deadline Dec. 3, 2007.
26 Oct 07
Press release (in German) about coordination of German "International Year of the Reef 2008" activities. Gert is member of German coordination team.
01 Oct 07
While in Egypt, The Scientist featured our work on sponges: Seafloor to bench top.
19 Oct 07
Georgia Augusta successful in the Excellence Initiative with its Institutional Strategy. Courant Research Center Geobiology funded.
13-14 Oct 07
Workshop "FRONTIERS IN GEOBIOLOGY – The emergence and evolution of uni- and multicellular life and the consequences for System Earth" Held at the Academy of Science Göttingen. Organized by Joachim Reitner & Gert Wörheide. Program & Abstracts. Group Photo.
20 Sept - 04 Oct 07
Olli, Cat, Dirk and Gert with students in Dahab (Red Sea, Egypt) for field course (see "Study Trips" on left side) at the Red Sea Environmental Center.
18 Sept 07
"Climate Change and the Great Barrier Reef: A Vulnerability Assessment" book launched by GBRMPA. Our chapter on "Vulnerability of benthic invertebrates of the Great Barrier Reef to climate change" can be accessed for here.
10 Sept 07
New paper on developmental gene expression in abalone published in BMC Evolutionary Biology. Open access.
03-05 Sept 07
We are hosting the DFG-Roundtable on Seamounts.
31 Aug 07
Workshop "Frontiers in Geobiology" announced. 13/14 Oct 2007 in Göttingen (only for early career researchers). More info.
14-28 Aug 07
Martin in Canada to visit Henry Reiswig to work on Hexactinellids. Funded by a Mini-PEET grant.
25 Jul - 11 Sept 07
Cat off to attend HOTSPOTS summer school in Africa and field work in Indian Ocean.
18-24 July 07
Prof John Benzie (Moana Technologies) visits the lab to work with Cat and Gert on population genetics and phylogeography of Indo-Pacific invertebrates.
10 July 07
New paper on phylogeography of Pericharax published online in Coral Reefs.
9-12 July 07
Gert in Ismailia (Egypt) to present keynote lecture on DNA barcoding/DNA taxonomy at the 2nd International Conference of the Egyption Society for Environmental Sciences "The Role of Genetics and Biotechnology in Conservation of Natural Resources"
29 June 07
Our paper on Sponge Paleogenomics appears in today's issue of Science. See also Perspective by Taylor et al.. A FREE PDF reprint can be accessed via the "Recent Publications" button on the left.
19 June 07
"The Economist" features a story on our latest paper in Science.
18/19 June 07
Gert attends Discussion Meeting "The evolution of the animals: a Linnean tercentenary celebration" at the Royal Society in London and presents poster on sponge paleogenomics.
15 June 07
Our biomineralization research featured in local newspaper (Göttinger Tageblatt, in German).
14 June 07
Press release (in german) about our last paper in Science.
03 June 07
Olli Voigt's co-authored paper on placozoan field biology is available online.
31 May 07
New paper out in Science (online ahead of print in ScienceExpress) "Sponge Paleogenomics Reveals an Ancient Role for Carbonic Anhydrase in Skeletogenesis". A FREE PDF reprint can be accessed via the "Recent Publications" button on the left.
25 May 07
Gert invited to present the lab's research at a Mini-Symposium on Marine Biodiversity Research (Faculty of Biosciences, Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität Frankfurt).
23 May 07
Cat Vogler presents her PhD research at the 5th Marine Bioinvasion Conference, MIT, Boston (USA). Title of talk: "Detection of nonindigenous marine invertebrates in a Mediterranean industrial port using DNA assisted identification techniques".
26 April 07
Gert back in Göttingen. BarToL Workshop featured in Nature.
17 April 07
Gert departs to attend Diversitas BioGenesis Workshop: Roots, Branches and Leaves: Integrating the Tree and Barcodes of Life (BarToL) (19/20 Apr.) at the National Evolutionary Synthesis Center, Duke University, Durham (NC, USA), invited by Prof. Cliff Cunningham.
04 April 07
Gert safely arrives back from a successful trip to Australia.
17 Mar 07
Gert departs to Australia to attend 'Deep DownUnder' kick-off meeting in Brisbane.
15-16 Mar 07
Gert attends Seamount Workshop at University of Bremen
09 Mar 07
Lab talk: Jasper de Goeij (Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research): Coral cavities: "The Intenstines of the Reef" (11:00h, 2nd Floor, Room 225)
20 Feb 07
Kristine von Leliwa commences her BSc project (Analysis of 10 years Red Sea Reef Check data).
01 Feb 07:
Kerstin and Judith join the lab to commence their MSc thesis (Diplomarbeit). A warm welcome!
11 Jan 07:
Gert invited to present the lab´s research in the Evolutionary Biology Seminar series of the University of Bonn at the Museum Koenig.
09 Jan 07:
Official launch of the Sponge Barcoding database (click on data).
23 Dec 06:
Merry Christmas and all the best for the new year! It is one of the warmest winters in Germany on record, unfortunately no white christmas expected!
29 Nov 06:
Our recent paper in BMC Biology on abalone biomineralization is featured in ABC Science News. See BMCs press release.
24 Nov 06:
Luciana returns from maternity leave.
17-19 Nov 06:
We are hosting the first status seminar of the DFG Priority Programme 1174 "Deep Metazoan Phylogeny".
17 Nov 06:
Dan Jackson´s time in the lab sadly comes to an end and he returns to Australia. Thanks for everything, Dan, we surely will miss your company and hope to see you back soon!
26 Oct 06:
The Barcode Blog features the Sponge Barcoding Project.
26 Sep - 10 Oct 06:
Dan, Catherine, Mike and Gert with 14 students on field course (and field work) in the Red Sea at the Red Sea Environmental Centre in Dahab, Egypt.
19 Sep 06:
Gert gives a talk on Phylogeography of Indo-Pacific sponges at the 6th European ISRS Meeting in Bremen.
19 - 22 Sep 06:
Gert attends the 6th European Meeting of the International Society for Reef Studies (ISRS) in Bremen, Germany.
17 - 19 Aug 06:
Bob Thacker from the University of Alabama at Birmingham (USA) visits the lab and gives a seminar on sponge-microbe symbioses.
25 July - 3 Aug 06:
Catherine attends HOTSPOTS summer school in England.
25-27 July 06:
Gert attends first HOTSPOTS project meeting at Imperial College, Silwood Park, London.
22 July 06:
Martin and Olli depart to attend the Workshop on Molecular Evolution at the MBL in Woods Hole, MA.
24 May 06:
Official launch of the Sponge Barcoding Project website.
19 May 06:
Martin, Olli, Kerstin, Dirk and Gert safely return from Brazil after a fantastic and successuful conference, where our lab presented six oral presentations and two posters. Well done folks!
05-19 May 06:
Martin, Olli, Kerstin, Dirk and Gert attend the 7th International Sponge Conference in Armacao dos Buzios (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil).
03-08 May 06:
Dan and Catherine for field work in the Mediterranean.
01 Apr 06:
Dan Jackson arrives back from DownUnder for another 6 month of Post-Doc to work on poriferan biomineralization.
15 Mar 06:
Catherine Vogler joins the lab to commence her PhD project on invasive marine invertebrates in the Mediterranean, as part of the 6th Framework EU Marie-Curie Research Training Network HOTSPOTS.
13-19 Mar 06:
Kerstin attends EMBO course "Advanced methods in reconstructing phylogenetic relationships" in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil).
10 Mar 06:
Gert safely arrives back in Göttingen.
27 Feb - 09 Mar 06:
Gert, Olli and Dan visit Bernie Degnans lab at the University of Queensland and John Hoopers lab at the Queensland Centre for Biodiversity at the Queensland Museum in Brisbane.
12-27 Feb 06:
Gert, Olli, Dan and Merrick from the Queensland Museum conduct field work on Lizard Island.
17/18 Jan 06:
James McInerney (NUI) visits and gives seminar on supertrees.
01 Jan 06:
Kerstin Pick joins the lab to commence her PhD project on deep poriferan phylogeny.
8 Dec 05:
Gert presents results on Astrosclera biomineralization at the 9th International Symposium on Biomineralization.
4 - 10 Dec 05:
Gert attends 9th International Symposium on Biomineralization in Pucon, Chile.
28 Nov - 3 Dec 05:
Gert attends HOTSPOTS meeting at Kew Botanical Gardens, London, UK.