Alumni

My current focus in the lab is understanding the adaptations of various invertebrates to a subterranean lifestyle.

I am also interested in the taxonomy of cave-dwelling Isopoda and have completed a PhD on the taxonomy and molecular phylogeny of the southern European genus Alpioniscus.

I am interested in the conservation of cave fauna in the Dinaric Karst as well.

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I am a molecular biologist who has always been passionate about evolution as an approach to explaining biodiversity from molecules to entire ecosystems.

For my PhD, I am studying the phenomenon of pigment loss as a common adaptation in cave dwellers. A lot of research has been done on melanin, but I am particularly interested in ommochromes - generally less studied biological pigments first described in the eyes of Drosophila.

I would like to determine the precise molecular mechanisms that lead to albinism as a result of ommochrome deficiency.

In addition, I would like to determine if the loss of ommochromes, similar to the loss of melanin, may be an evolutionarily favored adaptation in cave dwellers because it can enable for a shift of resources (substrates and/or enzyme machinery) to biological processes that are more useful in the stressful and harsh cave environment.

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I joined the lab because of my keen interest in genetics.

In earning my Master of Science degree, I gained skills in experimental laboratory work, many of which I will apply in this research.

Specifically, I will be conducting experiments on the teleost fish Astyanax mexicanus, an ideal model organism for studying evolution in caves and adaptation in such an environment.

My team and I will focus on phenotypic plasticity, where phenotypes change under the influence of environmental variation, and the corresponding molecular mechanisms underlying such changes.

In addition, I will work with many bioinformatics tools, especially those required for the analysis of data from next-generation sequencing.

Researchgate profile

From my first caving trip, I was fascinated by the strange ecosystems and animals that live in caves.

I became interested in the taxonomy of Collembola and their morphological and behavioral adaptations to the cave environment.

My PhD thesis focused on the systematics and biogeography of the European Collembola genus Verhoeffiella, discovering the radiation of this genus in Dinarid caves.

My role in the lab is to take care of the invertebrate and fish facility, cultivate and breed numerous species under laboratory conditions, and design the innovative experimental setups for the lab projects.

I enjoy observing and filming cave animals and also work on popularizing and preserving cave fauna within the Dinarides.

Researchgate profile

In this lab i completed my masters' thesis, which focused on investigating phenotypic variability of retinal morphology in surface and subterranean populations of the freshwater fish Telestes karsticus.

My current role is taking care of the group’s invertebrate and fish facility.

I am currently doing masters degree in experimental biology and I joined this team because of my interest in molecular genetics. I was working on phenotipic variability of cave and surface populations of freshwater crustacean Asellus aquaticus. For my masters thesis I am working on epigenetics on the same species.

I am an ecologist interested in herpetology and cave biology.

Most of my researches are focused on the European cave salamanders, which I often used as model species in ecological and behavioral studies. I am also interested in studying the ecology and behavior of other cave-dwelling invertebrates, as well as cavefish.

Some of my studies are focused on understanding behavioral, morphological and genetic adaptations of species to subterranean environments.

I also work to improve the conservation of amphibians and other subterranean cave species.

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