Bernd Rosslenbroich

To the Institute for Evolutionary Biology
 

Research Interests:

• Patterns and processes in macroevolution
• Organismic and systems biology
• Philosophy of biology and medicine
• General zoology and nature observations (including bird watching) in field trips and while travelling, e.g. to Northern Europe, Africa and Malaysia

Born in 1957, I studied veterinary medicine at the University of Giessen (Germany). For my doctoral thesis, I switched to the department of medicine, where I conducted experimental research into the treatment of melanomas. I completed my thesis in 1987. After a six-month research stay at Ohio State University (Columbus, Ohio - USA), I became a postdoc at the Institute for Comparative Animal Physiology at the University of Giessen. In addition to teaching, my research work focussed on reticulocytes during red blood cell formation (erythropoiesis).

After writing a review of human chronobiology, I was appointed to the Witten/Herdecke University (Germany) at the end of 1989. There, as a member of a commission of the Federal Ministry of Research and Technology, I was involved in a project to prepare research funding in the field of complementary medicine in Germany. In 1998, I moved to the Institute for Evolutionary Biology at the UW/H and, building on my experience in comparative physiology, began my studies on the question of autonomy in evolution. In 2006, I completed my habilitation on this topic. The habilitation thesis was published in book form in 2007. In the same year, I was appointed head of the institute.