Pushing the boundary?
The giraffe’s iconic long neck puzzled us for centuries! Why is it so special? Almost all mammals have seven vertebrae in the neck, irrespective of the length of their neck. Mouse, dog, human, giraffe...
SICB 2021 – Virtual Annual Meeting
The annual meeting of the Society for Integrative & Comparative Biology (SICB) takes place virtually from January 3 to February 28, 2021. As usual the conference programme is packed with a huge number of...
Project EDDi
EDDi – Evolutionary Dissection of Dinosaurs The vertebral column is a defining feature and a vital body part of vertebrate animals. It is composed of several units – the vertebrae – that are morphologically...
Going down the rabbit hole? New publication on dental pathologies in pet rabbits
Although pet rabbit medicine has improved over the last 20 years, diagnostics and targeted therapy are still often restricted as compared to medicine in cats and dogs. Among the most frequently encountered diseases in...
New publication: Fossil evidence of intervertebral discs
Even T-rex could have suffered a disc protrusion? The intervertebral disc is a fibrocartilaginous joint that connects two successive vertebrae and allows for movement between the bones. It is commonly considered to be a...
Atlas of Terrestrial Mammal Limbs
I couldn’t be more excited! Our anatomy atlas is published! More than 400 photographs and illustrations that visualize the diversity in forelimb and hind limb muscle anatomy of 30 mammalian species. We carefully dissected...
New publication: Modularity of the neck in birds
Birds vary significantly in the number and shape of vertebrae in the neck. Despite this variation, a similar regionalization along the neck of a diversity of avian species has been observed. Depending on their...
Marie Curie Individual Fellowship
The European Commission has announced the successful applicants to Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions Individual Fellowships. The grants are part of the Horizon 2020, the EU’s framework programme for research and innovation. I am extremely honoured...
Looking for fossils in New Zealand
Finding, collecting, identifying and cataloging fossils is the basis for research in palaeontology. Amongst others, I was fortunate to gain experience in prospecting and excavating extinct dinosaurs in Argentina (Patagonia) and South-Africa. Most recently,...
Publication featured by Vulture Conservation Foundation
Our publication on the neck anatomy of vultures (Böhmer et al. 2020 J Anatomy) got featured by the Vulture Conservation Foundation (VCF). The Vulture Conservation Foundation is an international non-governmental organization committed to the...