BHOOMIKA BHAT
PhD student
I am interested in understanding how nematode infections influence nestmate recognition and social behavior in ants. I am also interested in understanding the chemical basis for the changes in these behaviors. I completed my Masters at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. My Masters project was to understand the influence of community coalescence in the evolution of predatory abilities and social traits in lab-evolved strains of a bacterial predator Myxococcus xanthus.
LAI KA LO
Postdoctoral researcher
My fascination with different host strategies to overcome the spread of disease led me to join the Ulrich lab in 2023 to study the link between viral disease dynamics in ant colonies and their social network structure. My PhD studies with Professor Joachim Kurtz at the University of Muenster, focused on the impacts of individual immunological experience of Tribolium castaneum on their chemical profiles, microbiome and niche choice. I also utilised experimental evolution to study the role of niche construction for host adaptation to a bacterial pathogen.
TZE HANN (IRENE) NG
Postdoctoral researcher
Since completing my PhD at National Cheng Kung University in Taiwan, I have been actively involved in crustacean research and have gained much knowledge in immune responses of arthropods. My focus is on immune priming in invertebrates, which includes immune training and specificity. Although invertebrates lack the adaptive immunity that confers immune specificity in vertebrates, I am interested in the “alternative” form of immunity that drive the processes. My previous postdoctoral research at the University of Muenster showed immune priming helps copepods perform better against recounter parasites, and the response confers immune specificity. I joined Ulrich Group in October 2024 to study how immune priming contributes to pathogen defenses and behaviors in social animals like clonal raider ants.
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SARAH ROGOZ
PhD student
Before joining the group I obtained my Masters in Physics at the University of Cologne working on network analysis based on the morphology of sclerits and muscles in the head capsule of insects with Prof. Blanke (University Bonn) and Prof. Berg (University Cologne). Switching from a static to a dynamic network system, I am interested in further resolving the colony interactions of the clonal raider ant. For this I am working with tracking of color-marked O. biroi workers and translating their behavior into proximity/ behavioral colony interaction networks to investigate colony dynamics and pathogen spread.
ROLAND SPIESS
Technician
I started working as technician at the MPI in 2020 in the department of Bill Hansson.
There I was taught to do micro-injections with Drosophila embryos to generate transgenic flies.
Additionally I was involved in coordinating the tasks required for fly-food management and Locust breeding.
In June 2024 I transferred to Yuko Ulrich's group to apply my micro-injection skills to ant eggs,
and my coordination experience to help breeding the required ants.
SILKE TRAUTHEIM
Technician
I have been working as a technician at the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology for 16 years, and I am now very happy to be part of the Social Behaviour group.
Previously, I worked with fruit flies. I am excited to now work with ants, as I think that working with social insects, such as clonal raider ants, is very interesting and fun. I support the group with all basic lab work, take care of the ants and the lab equipment. My goal is to support the scientists and students in their work as much as possible.
SANDRA TRETTER
PhD student
Since my undergraduate studies, I have been fascinated by ants, examining their chemical communication and behavior. I then continued working with ants and studied the brain regions responsible for processing olfactory information via micro CT scans. I received both my Bachelor’s and Master’s degree at the University of Münster in Jürgen Gadau’s group. During my Master’s program, I began working with immunity in beetles, deepening my interest in the insect immune system. Now, as a Ph.D. student in the Ulrich lab, I can combine my research interests in sociality, the immune system, and chemical communication by studying the clonal raider ant.
YUKO ULRICH
Principal Investigator
After a PhD on parasite transmission in social insects at ETH Zurich, I joined the Kronauer lab at the Rockefeller University for my postdoc. There, I helped establish the clonal raider ant as a model for the study of social and collective behavior. I started an independent research group at the University of Lausanne (Switzerland), which moved to ETH Zurich, and finally, to the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology in 2021.
TIAGO ZEFERINO
SNSF & MSCA postdoctoral Fellow
TIM ZETZSCHE
PhD student
PAST MEMBERS
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Baptiste Piqueret, postdoctoral researcher (MPI-CE), 2022 – 2025
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Zimai Li, PhD student (ETH Zurich, MPI-CE), 2021 – 2025
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Ashmita Baruah (IISER Pune), MSc student intern, 2024 – 2025
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Daniel Knebel (ETH Zurich, MPI-CE), Postdoctoral researcher, 2021 – 2023
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Qi Wang (MPI-CE), MSc student, 2022 – 2023
- Luis Wirsching (MPI-CE), MSc student, 2022 – 2023
- Giacomo Alciatore, PhD student (UNIL, ETH Zurich), 2017 – 2022
- Stephanie Jud (ETH Zurich), MSc student, 2021
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Jérémie Bidaux, MSc student (UNIL), 2017 – 2019
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Thalita Oliveira Honorato (UNIL), MSc student, 2018 – 2019