Completed projects

The European Water Frame­work Direc­tive requires that all water­bod­ies achieve a good ecolog­i­cal status until 2027. In urban environ­ments the restricted spatial condi­tions and differ­ent inter­ests cause problems in river restoration.

Repro­duc­tive isola­tion, the ceased exchange of genetic mater­ial, is crucial for the diver­gence of popula­tions into distinct species. This is commonly facil­i­tated by an extrin­sic physi­cal barrier, but rarely it can also occur devoid of such barri­ers. Whether speci­a­tion proceeds by the same or differ­ent repro­duc­tive isola­tion mecha­nisms under these two geographic scenar­ios remains a matter of debate. We aim to contribute to this funda­men­tal question in biology by taking advan­tage of a model system of speci­a­tion: the Midas cichlid fishes.

Aggres­sion can be distin­guished in a reactive form, which is a protec­tive response to an acute threat and an instru­men­tal form, which is goal directed. Appet­i­tive aggres­sion is a sub form of instru­men­tal aggres­sion, which is defined by the experi­ence of lust when perpe­trat­ing violence. So far, the latter has been only assessed through self-report. The doctoral project under super­vi­sion of Prof. Thomas Elbert intends to create an objec­tive, epige­netic marker for appet­i­tive aggression.

The efficient design of chemi­cal processes is of great impor­tance for the chemi­cal indus­try. Current research makes an essen­tial contri­bu­tion to synthe­siz­ing complex substrates inexpen­sively in as few steps as possi­ble and in high yield. This PhD project, under the direc­tion of Hector Fellow A. Stephen K. Hashmi, there­fore, deals with the mecha­nism and the function­al­iza­tion of a wide range of 1,3‑diynes with varying nucleophiles.

The devel­op­ment of catalysts to increase the chemi­cal efficiency or to find completely new chemi­cal reactions has found great inter­est. For this a wide variety of ligands are needed. The doctoral is super­vised by Hector Fellow A. Stephen K. Hashmi and aims at devel­op­ing new ligands that are based on the formal double depro­to­na­tion of 1,3‑diketones and thereby enlarg­ing the chemi­cal space of known ligands. For this new synthetic methods have to be found and the obtained ligands have to be tested and characterised.