About us

Who we are

We are a team of scientists around the DFG Emmy Noether Group Leader Gerit Linneweber. We aim to understand the origins of individual variation using an invertebrate model organism. The fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster.

Our lab was founded nearly two years ago with the help of the generous funding of the DFG Emmy Noether Programme. Since then, we have continuously grown and strived to become one of the leading laboratories in the world investigating individual behavioral variability using invertebrate model organisms.

We have now expanded the scope of our work toward numerous visual and non-visual behaviors and circuit-wide methods. Soon we plan to establish physiological approaches to investigate variability in brain computations.

Lab picture 2023

Linneweber Lab 2023
Linneweber Lab 2023

Lab picture 2022

Linneweber Lab 2022
Linneweber Lab 2022

Lab picture 2021

Linneweber Lab 2021
Linneweber Lab 2021
Emmy Noether Group Leader Gerit Linneweber

Emmy Noether Group Leader Dr. Gerit Linneweber

Gerit received his Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge, where he worked under the supervision of Irene Miguel-Aliaga on interactions between the nervous and digestive systems. Next, he moved to Belgium to work with Bassem Hassan on the developmental origins of behavioral individuality. An EMBO and Marie Curie Fellowship supported Gerit for this work. Gerit moved to Berlin and became a DFG Emmy Noether Group leader in 2021.

Administration Ute Gebhardt

Administration Ute Gebhardt

Administrative Associate for Prof. Hiesinger. Ute guides us through all administrative issues at FU Berlin.
phone: +49 30 838 55917

Technical Assistance Jana Balke

Technical Assistance Jana Balke

Jana joined the lab in September 2021 as a technical assistance.

Postdoc Thomas Mathejczyk

Postdoc Thomas Mathejczyk

Thomas joined the lab in May 2021.

PhD Student Muhammad Ali Haider

PhD Student Muhammad Ali Haider

Muhammad joined the lab in March 2022

PhD Student Mohammad Reslan

PhD Student Mohammad Reslan

Mohammad will join the lab in December 2022

Preferred Model System Drosophila

Preferred Model System Drosophila

Our model system of choice is the vinegar fly Drosophila melanogaster. Drosophila is a commonly used model organism in genetics and biological research. It has a small genome size, a short generation time, and is dead easy to culture, making it a popular choice for genetic and neurodevelopmental studies. Additionally, many of the genetic and molecular mechanisms that control the development and physiology of fruit flies are similar to those in higher organisms, including humans, making it a valuable model for understanding human biology and disease.

Master student Florian Freitag
Master student Debora Hollaender
Master student Michelle Saziye Inci
Bachelor student Katharina Brecht
Erasmus student Klara Bystronova
Bachelor student Samra Hamidovic
Bachelor student Cara Knief
Bachelor student Lara Kornblum
Bachelor student Shirin Kuebler

Alumni

  1. Aydan Cakir (FU Berlin)
  2. Arman Jafari (FU Berlin)
  3. Nikolai Konopka (FU Berlin)
  4. Laia Pons-Paris (Universitat de Barcelona)
  5. Tydings McClary (FU Berlin)

Joining us

If you are interested in what you read so far and are thinking of joining us as a postdoc or graduate student or undergraduate student, please get in touch! We are accepting applications all year round. Please send all informal inquiries to Gerit Linneweber.