Position: PhD student
Office: 116
Office phone: +49 4522763-197
E-mail: claassen@evolbio.mpg.de
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Benjamin_Claassen
Research interests
Current Project
Ancient plant genomics
The analysis of genetic material acquired from historical and prehistorical samples can not only tell us much about what organisms looked like centuries ago, it can also tell us a lot about their traits and diversity. Furthermore, it can also help us to better understand where the organisms we know today came from.
I am interested in the origins and diversity of crops in historical Europe and their evolution. Using modern molecular biology techniques as well as state of the art sequencing and computational methods, I am investigating samples of ancient DNA at the genomic level. In my studies I am focusing on agricultural significant crops such as Secale cereale and their associated fungal pathogens. I am specifically interested in the influence of domestication and plant-pathogen interactions on selection in these cultivars.
This project is part of the https://www.cluster-roots.uni-kiel.de/en/about_roots ROOTS Cluster of Excellence: Subcluster 2: Dietary ROOTS
Other projects
The diversity of yeast killer viruses in a natural population
Yeast killer viruses are double-stranded RNA viruses that
infect several different species of yeast, including the baker’s yeast Saccharomyces
cerevisiae.
These viruses promote secretion of a toxin that kills nearby susceptible yeast
cells, while granting immunity to their hosts. I am exploring the diversity of
these viruses in a natural population of Saccharomyces paradoxus in
northern Germany on the genomic level through sequencing of viral dsRNA, to
learn more about the origins and diversity of these viruses.
Short CV
2020 –
present PhD student
Cluster of Excellence ROOTS at Kiel University,
MPI for Evolutionary Biology Plön
Exploring origins and diversity of crops in historic Europe using ancient DNA
2018 – 2020 M. Sc. Biology
MPI for Evolutionary Biology Plön, Kiel University
Thesis: “Different evolutionary histories in a single cell –
Double-stranded RNA viruses in yeast”
in Eva Stukenbrock’s lab
2014 – 2017 B. Sc. Biology
Kiel University
Thesis: “Co-colonization of two members of Caenorhabditis elegans native microbiome” in Hinrich Schulenburg’s lab