Pascal holds an M.Sc. in Neuroscience and a PhD in sensory biology which he aquired in the Lab of Hynek Burda. He performed his postdoctoral work on magnetoreception in homing pigeons in the Keays Lab at the IMP in Vienna before starting his lab at MPINB. Outside of the MPINB Pascal enjoys spending time with his family, running and playing soccer, and all kinds of music with decent drums. 

Li holds a B.Sc in Biotechnology from Sichuan University, Chengdu and a Ph.D in Neuroscience from the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (Institute of Neuroscience), Shanghai. His PhD projects were focused on motion direction coding in the mouse retina. In the Malkemper lab, Li is focusing on the possibility of a magnetic sense in mice and its underlying neuronal mechanisms using behavioural and electrophysiology tools. Li really likes badminton, cooking, travelling, and photography. 

Leif holds a M.Sc. in Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, and a PhD in Biology from the University of Bonn. He is interested in the functional and evolutionary morphology of animals, and how an organisms’ structure is linked to its biology and behavior. During his PhD project, at the Zoological Research Museum A. Koenig, he studied the morphology and evolution of millipedes (Diplopoda). In the Malkemper-Lab Leif focuses on screening African mole-rat (Fukomys anselli) and planarian (Dugesia dorotocephala) tissue for iron and magnetic particles, like biogenic magnetite, combining various techniques, including histology, micro-CT, MRI-QSM, Synchrotron-XRF, and electron microscopy (TEM, SEM, FIB-SEM). The aim of these projects is to identify potential magnetic particle based receptors, which are involved in magnetoreception. Besides research, Leif enjoys hiking, bouldering, drawing and photography. 

Alireza did his MSc in Physics of Complex Systems and non-linear dynamics, where he got interested in the brain as one of the most complex systems. He studied the brain first with a computational approach and network analysis. Later, he got interested in higher cognitive functions such as perception and did a Ph.D. with the main focus on illusion perception in mice using Electrophysiology and Optogenetics methods. In the Malkemper-lab, Alireza focuses on establishing electrophysiological recording in head-fixed mole-rats to infer the neuronal circuitry of magnetoreception. He also aims to understand the neural mechanism of fear perception in the mole-rat compared to mice. Outside the lab, he enjoys cooking, watching anime and sci-fi movies, and reading philosophical fiction. 

Runita holds a B.Sc. in Life Sciences and an M.Sc. in Neuroscience from the University of Mumbai (India). She worked as a project assistant on spatial navigation in Sachin Deshmukh’s Lab at IISc. For her PhD project in the Malkemper lab, she is working on deciphering the influence of magnetic cues on firing of spatially selective cells in mole-rats. Besides spatial navigation Runita enjoys playing her bass and flute, hiking, doodling, and solving chess puzzles. 

Adrian is currently studying Microbiology at the University of Bonn. His primary research project focuses on genomics and transcriptomics, with the goal of identifying genes involved in magnetoreception in African mole rats.  When he's not in the lab, Adrian enjoys taking long walks while listening to audiobooks. 

Emilia studies Organismic and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Bonn. Her main project in the lab involves behavior and motion tracking of mole rats under varying magnetic field conditions. Outside of research, Emilia enjoys sewing and is passionate about learning new languages.

Pia holds a B.Sc. in Agricultural Science and is currently studying Animal Science at the University of Bonn. Her main research project in the lab focuses on tracking the directional preference of planaria under varying magnetic field conditions to determine if they are suitable model organisms for studying magnetoreception. In her spare time, Pia enjoys hiking, strength training, cooking and playing video and card games.