2026
September 2026
From September 10 to 18, Laura and Miguel attended the Annual Meeting of the German Society for Mammalian Biology in Berlin, which this year celebrated the society’s 100th anniversary.
Laura gave a pitch titled “Museum genetics elucidate the evolutionary affinities of an island tarsier from the Banggai Archipelago to mainland Sulawesi”, and Miguel presented our work on “Contact zones and hybridization in Sulawesi tarsiers”. The anniversary was celebrated with a gala dinner at the Natural History Museum in Berlin.
For more information, visit: https://www.mammalian-biology.de/meetings/annual-meeting-2026/
Picture on the left: Laura presenting her pitch, © Miguel Camacho
Picture on the right: Miguel at the gala dinner in the Natural History Museum, © Laura Hagemann
Laura was also invited to give a talk at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig on September 11, titled “Sulawesi tarsiers – where did they come from, where did they go? Insights from phylogeography”.
On September 22, she gave the same talk at the seminar of our Institute of Organismic and Molecular Evolution (iomE) here in Mainz.
We are happy to announce that Laura and Miguel received a small grant from the German Society for Mammalian Biology (DGS Special Call Project Funding) for the project “Museomics on rare tarsier species”.
Congratulations to Clara and Elif, who have both handed in their Bachelor’s theses!
August 2026
At the end of August, Laura attended the 7th European Conservation Genetics Meeting in Antwerp, Belgium, where she presented a poster titled “Evolutionary origin of Tarsius pelengensis based on historic samples”.
For more information, visit: https://www.zooscience.be/en/events/7th-european-conservation-genetics-meeting/
Picture on the left: Opening slide of the meeting, © Laura Hagemann
Picture on the right: Laura meeting a gorilla at Antwerp Zoo, © Laura Hagemann
July 2026
From June 29 to July 3, Laura and Miguel attended the 11th Meeting of the European Federation for Primatology in Montpellier, France.
Laura gave a talk titled “Ancestral range estimation and population structure of Sulawesi tarsiers”, and Miguel presented “Evolutionary origin of Tarsius pelengensis”, a project he worked on together with our former Bachelor’s students Hibba and Frida.
For more information, visit: https://www.alphavisa.com/efp/2026/
Picture: Laura and Miguel at the meeting in Montpellier, © Laura Hagemann
June 2026
In June, Miguel attended the congress of the Italian Society for Evolutionary Biology (SIBE 2026) in Florence, Italy, where he presented our poster “Genetic structure and diversity in Eastern tarsiers”.
For more information, visit: https://www.sibe-iseb.it/firenze2026
Picture: Miguel next to the poster at SIBE 2026 in Florence, © Laura Hagemann
April 2026
The lab and office are gradually filling up again after all previous Bachelor’s students successfully completed their theses and moved on to new academic challenges.
We are pleased to welcome two new Bachelor’s students, Clara Scholl and Elif Öden, to the team!
Additionally, our new intern Anna Catharina Neuhaus genannt Wever has joined the group.
Details about what everybody is working on are listed on the Members page, if you want to check it out!
March 2026
One of the projects closest to Laura’s heart, the Berggorilla & Regenwald Direkthilfe e. V., invites you to its yearly Members’ Meeting on May 9–10 in Leipzig.
As always, not only current members and supporters are invited; interested individuals who are not (yet) members are also expressly welcome. The association will be hosted by the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology on Saturday, and on Sunday a guided tour of the primate section of Leipzig Zoo is planned.
If you are interested in joining or would like further information about the association, please visit their website: https://www.berggorilla.org/
Good news for students interested in pursuing a Master’s degree at JGU Mainz: the new Master’s program in Evolutionary Biology, which launched last winter semester, will open its application process in April.
Graduates holding a Bachelor’s degree in biology, molecular biology, mathematics, forensic science, or bioinformatics are eligible to apply.
See the blog post from the Faculty of Biology for more information.
At this year’s graduation ceremony of the Department of Biology, held on March 28, 2026, in the Alte Mensa, Laura had the honor of presenting her research.
The event concluded with a celebratory reception featuring sparkling wine and cake.
The event was thoughtfully organized by the Biology student council and provided a fitting conclusion to this academic chapter.
Congratulations to all graduates!
Picture: Laura presenting at the ceremony, © Laura Hagemann
2025
December 2025
We are happy to announce that a new Bachelor’s student, Frida Johanna Schehr, has joined our group to continue work on the Sulawesi tarsier project. Welcome!
The December celebrations continued with the publication of our article entitled “Transcriptional profiles of the fish parasite Neoechinorhynchus agilis (Acanthocephala) emphasize energetic stress in males and high cell-division activity in females” in BMC Genomics!
It can be read at https://doi.org/10.1186/s12864-025-12298-y
Additionally, at the beginning of December, Miguel fled the cold of Germany and attended the 17th Meeting of the Spanish Society for the Study and Conservation of Mammals (SECEM) in Évora, Portugal.
For more information, visit: https://www.congresosecem.es/
Picture: Miguel presenting in a conference room, © Miguel Camacho
September 2025
In September, Miguel and Laura gave presentations at the 98th Meeting of the German Society for Mammalian Biology, held jointly with the Italian Mammal Society in Siena, Italy.
We were delighted to learn about the work of others and engage in a fruitful scientific exchange.
For more information, visit: https://www.congressi.unisi.it/dgsmeeting/
Picture: Information slide in a conference room, © Laura Hagemann
August 2025
In August, Camille and Laura attended the congress of the European Society for Evolutionary Biology (ESEB) in Barcelona, Spain.
More than 1,500 evolutionary biologists participated, and we presented our posters.
Further details can be found in the abstract book: https://eseb2025.com/
July 2025
This summer, we are busy communicating our research, starting in July.
Miguel and Laura gave online presentations at the 30th International Primatological Society Congress in Madagascar.
Further details and abstracts can be found at https://ipsmadagascar.org/
May 2025
From May 12th to 14th, 2025, Camille-Sophie took part in the REID-IMMUNINV meeting (https://reid2025.sciencesconf.org/) in Lyon. She had the chance to listen to talks on fascinating research topics in the field of evolutionary ecology of symbioses, such as the evolution of multicellularity, the discovery of a host-feminizing virus, transmissible tumors, the ‘domestication’ of viruses by parasitoid wasps, the role of the microbiota in the evolution of metamorphosis, and more.
It was also an opportunity to have interesting discussions on the evolution of genomes in parasites and to present her results on sex-biased and size-biased gene expression in the fish parasite Neoechinorhynchus agilis on a poster.
Picture: Conference attendees
April 2025
At the end of April, we were happy to welcome a new Bachelor’s student, Hibba de Noor, who joined our group to collaborate with Laura, Tom and Miguel on the Sulawesi tarsier project. Welcome!
January 2025
We are thrilled to announce that in the second week of January, Dr. Miguel Camacho Sanchez joined our group as a postdoc.
Miguel is an evolutionary and conservation biologist specializing in genetics and genomics to study wildlife populations of mammals, and the diversification and distribution of mammal species.
Miguel will be contributing his expertise to the ongoing project on the phylogeography of Sulawesi tarsiers, utilizing genome-wide data to uncover new insights into their evolutionary history.
2024
October 2024
We have two new Bachelor’s students in our team.
We are delighted to welcome Hannah Heidelmeyer and Nora Berthold.
Hannah will be collaborating with Laura and Tom on investigating the population structure and demography of Sulawesi tarsiers, while Nora’s thesis will focus on analyzing parasitic DNA extracted from fecal samples of western lowland gorillas in Gabon, examining differences between various gorilla social groups.
Additionally, Laura is part of the jury of a drawing competition for children aged 5–10 years.
The task is to draw a picture of yourself together with the mountain gorilla Mukiza.
Mukiza is the star of a recently published children’s book that tells the true story of the Bwindi mountain gorilla Mukiza.
Further information: https://www.calmemaraverlag.de/derverlag/malwettbewerb
September 2024
In September, Laura visited the American Museum of Natural History in New York to sample six tarsier specimens that are around 100 years old.
These have the potential to vastly improve our understanding of the diversification of tarsiers on Sulawesi.
We are very excited to start the project.
Picture on the left: Laura on the steps of the American Museum of Natural History, © Laura Hagemann
Picture on the right: One of the sampled tarsier specimens, © Laura Hagemann
August 2024
At the end of August, Laura and Tom visited Lausanne, Switzerland, to attend the 6th European Conference on Conservation Genetics.
In addition to exciting conversations about integrating genetic analyses into the conservation of wild species, Tom presented our work on tarsier phylogenetics and biogeographic history at the poster session.
Link to the conference webpage: https://eu.eventscloud.com/website/13263/home/
Small picture: Tom at the poster session, © Laura Hagemann
Large picture: Conference attendees on the steps of the Palais de Rumine, © Laura Hagemann
July 2024
Laura was invited to be the keynote speaker at the Bachelor’s graduation ceremony for biology at the University of Cologne.
Just before the hat toss, she gave a talk titled “Von Kobolden und Riesen – Einblicke in die Primatengenetik”. Congratulations to all graduates!
Picture: Prof. Niefind hands over a bouquet after the presentation. Many thanks for the flowers! © Patric Fouad
June 2024
On June 15th and 16th, 2024, the general meeting of the non-profit association Berggorilla & Regenwald Direkthilfe e. V. (B&RD) took place at the Darwineum of the Rostock Zoo.
We celebrated B&RD’s 40th anniversary with a varied program of project reports, external lectures and presentations on the history of the association.
You can find further information at: https://www.berggorilla.org/
Picture: Members and friends of Berggorilla & Regenwald Direkthilfe e. V. in Rostock, © Manfred Hartwig
January 2024
With the new year, our team is growing. We are happy to welcome our new postdoc, Thomas Morgan.
Thomas has worked on the genetic relationships of freshwater fishes that result from changing hydrology over geologic time. Most recently, his PhD work at the University of Michigan focused on the rivers of the Guiana Shield and the species relationships that were shaped by the rise of the Andes and the formation of the modern Amazon River.
In the Anthropology lab, Thomas will be involved in projects on the demography and biogeography of Sulawesi tarsiers, investigating how their species ranges are shaped by inter-species contact zones as well as past geological processes.
Picture: © Thomas Morgan
2023
December 2023
The 3rd Council Meeting of the Great Apes Survival Partnership will be held from December 11–14, 2023, in Paris. Stay tuned to hear about the outcome.
