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Tu Anh Thi Nguyen, MSc
​PhD student

Scientific Education

  • 2011 - 2015 Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry/ Molecular Biology at the University of Jena (Germany)
  • 2015 - 2018 Master of Science in Molecular Life Sciences at the University of Jena (Germany)
  • since 2018 PhD student at the University of Wuerzburg

Applied Techniques

Research Interest

​I started my scientific education in Jena where I did my Bachelor degree in Biochemistry/ Molecular Biology. Afterwards, I continued my scientific education in the Master course for Molecular Life Sciences in Jena. I did my Master thesis at the Department of Evolutionary Neuroethology in the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology in Jena. There, I worked on the hawk moth Manduca sexta and investigated the neuroanatomical and molecular biological background behind the animal’s ability to detect odors with its proboscis-tip. The work on my master thesis motivated me to continue my research on insect brains. Therefore, I moved to Würzburg and joined Basil el Jundi’s research lab.
My main research goal is to elucidate the hierarchy of the cues processed in the sun compass system of the monarch butterfly. For that, I simulate for instance celestial cues, such as the sun or polarized light, while simultaneously performing single-cell recordings from the animal’s internal compass (the central complex). For the future, I plan to additionally investigate how the monarch butterfly’s central complex processes landmarks. 

PUBLICATIONS

  • Nguyen TAT, Beetz MJ, Merlin C, el Jundi B (2021) Sun compass neurons are tuned to migratory orientation in monarch butterflies. Proc R Soc B 288: 20202988..
  • Fandino RA, Haverkamp A, Bisch-Knaden S, Zhang J, Bucks S, Nguyen TAT, Schröder A, Werckenthin A, Rybak J, Stengl M, Knaden M, Hansson BS, Große-Wilde E (2019)  Mutagenesis of oderant corecpetor Orco fully disrupts foraging but not oviposition behaviors in the hawkmoth Manduca sexta . PNAS, 116:15677-15685. ​