Nicole M. van Dam
Current position: Research group leader Molecular Interaction Ecology iDiv, Leipzig and full professor at FSU Jena
Puschstraße 4, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
E-mail: nicole.vandam@idiv.de
Telephone:+49 3419733165/166
Research Interests
My aim is to unravel the chemical and molecular mechanisms governing multitrophic interactions associated with plants. I specifically focus on interactions between plant roots and belowground herbivores and how their interaction may affect aboveground organisms via induced plant responses. I use metabolomic and transcriptomic approaches as well as manipulative experiments to study these interactions in the greenhouse as well as in the field. Eventually my research will contribute to advance ecological-evolutionary theories on optimal defence allocation in plants. For more information on my current research, see the Molecular Interaction Ecology (MIE) website at the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig.
Projects
As a former professor at RU Nijmegen, I am happy to take motivated MSc students for a thesis project in Leipzig, Germany. MSc students interested in an international master thesis project in Leipzig, please check out the research projects in MIE. Please send a mail indicating your preference for a particular project or research question and short CV. Please contact Dr. Janny Peters (jl.peters@science.ru.nl) for more information on the local supervision of potential thesis projects.
Teaching
I am teaching in the Biology BSc curriculum as well as in the Master Evolution, Ecology and Systematics (MEES) at FSU Jena, Germany. In addition, I am teaching in several Graduate Schools such as yDiv the graduate school of iDiv and IMPRS Chemical Ecology.
Selected publications
Please see my Research ID or Research Gate for my latest publications.