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Research group Tragust

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Latest News:

28.09.2024: A fun weekend in Poland with Baptiste Nezel for  a project on the ectoparasitic fungi Aegeritella on Formica ants with  members of Enikö Csatas Warsaw lab (Dani, Violette, Piotr, Tristan) and  Istvan Maaks Szeged lab (Bonita, Kata, Adam). Thanks for the invitation  Enikö!

(for older news see here)

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What we are interested in

We are broadly interested in evolutionary and ecological questions relating to host-parasite and host-microbe  interactions. Hence our work encompasses a range of topics including  immune defense strategies, emerging infectious diseases, and defensive  symbiosis to name a few. Check out our current projects, our publications, and our group members for more.

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What we do

We mainly utilise experimental manipulations in laboratory settings but are not shy of sampling in the field combining behavioral observations with immunological, microbiological, chemical-analytical, and molecular methods to span our research from molecules through to the whole organism.

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What we work with

Ants our are our main workhorses, but we have lately expanded to other social insects including the honeybee and bumblebees and think that the invasive ladybird beetle Harmonia axyridis is an excellent model organism. Our microbes include a spectrum of bacteria, fungi, and viruses but also the whole host-associated microbial community.

Camponotus nicobarensis performing acidopore grooming

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Who we are

We are a small group of people currently including a PhD (Lukas Koch) a teachers degree  student (Vera Neumer), a BSc-Thesis student (Tim Kaufmann) and soon a PostDoc (Pina Brinker) under the auspices of the head (Simon Tragust).

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We do teaching

We believe that integrating students into our research leads to positive interactions between teaching and research. We always have plenty of projects and ideas. If you are interested in joining contact our head Simon Tragust.

Kinderuni mit Simon Tragust © Maike Glöcker

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