ROBIN GROB

SCIENTIFIC EDUCATION

since 2022 Postdoctoral Fellow | NTNU Trondheim | Norway 
2017 - 2022 PhD | University of Wuerzburg | Germany
2015 - 2017 Master of Science | University of Wuerzburg | Germany
2011 - 2015 Bachelor of Science | University of Wuerzburg | Germany​​​

APPLIED TECHNIQUES

RESEARCH INTEREST

​My research aims to understand how insects integrate different sensory cues during navigation. As a PhD student in Wolfgang Rössler’s lab at the University of Wuerzburg (Germany), I studied how Cataglyphis ants set up and calibrate their navigational systems prior to foraging. Using a combination of state-of-the-art neurobiological methods and behavioral essays in the field in Greece and Tunisia, I investigated the relevance of magnetic information for the ants' navigation behavior and the neural plasticity in the brain.
As a MSCA postdoctoral fellow in Basil el Jundi’s lab (NTNU Trondheim, Norway) I am studying the migratory behavior of the Monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus). By combining behavioral and electrophysiological approaches, I aim to explore the integration of different sensory cues for migration. Specifically, I aim interested in exploring the interaction of the time-compensated sun compass and the magnetic compass in the Monarch butterflies.

PUBLICATIONS

• Grob R, Wegmann JW, Rössler W, Fleischmann PN (2024) Cataglyphis ants have a polarity-sensitive magentic compass. Curr Biol doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2024.11.012.
• Grob R, Müller V, Grübel, K, Rössler W, Fleischmann PN (2024) Importance of magnetic information for neuronal plasticity in desert ants. PNAS 121, e2320764121.
• Rössler W, Grob R, Fleischamnn PN (2023) The role of learning-walk related multisensory experience in rewiring visual circuits in the desert ant brain. J Comp Physiol A 209, 605-623.
• Grob R, el Jundi B (2023) Insect navigation: Where to face when moving through space. Curr Biol 33, R100–R103. [Dispatch]
• Fleischmann PN, Grob R, Rössler W (2022) Magnetosensation during re‑learning walks in desert ants (Cataglyphis nodus). J Comp Physiol A 208, 125–133.
• Grob R, Holland Cunz O, Grübel K, Pfeifer K, Rössler W*, Fleischmann PN* (2022) Rotation of skylight polarization during learning walks is necessary to trigger neuronal plasticity in Cataglyphis ants. Proc R Soc B 289: 20212499. 
• Grob R, Heinig N, Grübel K, Rössler W, Fleischmann PN (2021) Sex-specific and caste-specific brain adaptations related to spatial orientation in Cataglyphis ants. J Comp Neurol 529:18, 3882–3892.
• Grob R, el Jundi B, Fleischmann PN (2021) Towards a common terminology for arthropod spatial orientation. Ethol Ecol Evol 33:3, 338–358. 
• Grob R, Tritscher C, Grübel K, Stigloher C, Groh C, Fleischmann PN, Rössler W (2021) Johnston’s organ and its central projections in Cataglyphis desert ants. J Comp Neurol 529, 2138–2155. 
• Fleischmann PN, Grob R, Rössler W (2020) Kompass im Kopf - Wie Wüstenameisen lernen heimzukehren (Ant compass – how desert ants learn to navigate). Biol. Unsere Zeit 2/2020:50, 100–109. [popular scientific article].
• Fleischmann PN, Grob R, Rössler W (2020) Magnetoreception in Hymenoptera: importance for navigation. Animal Cogn 23:6, 1051-1061.
• Grob R, Fleischmann, PN, Rössler W (2019) Learning to navigate – how desert ants calibrate their compass systems. Neuroforum 25, 109-120.
• Fleischmann PN*, Grob R*, Müller VL, Wehner R, Rössler W (2018) The geomagnetic field is a compass cue in Cataglyphis ant navigation. Curr Biol 28, 1440–1444.
• Grob R*, Fleischmann PN*, Grübel K, Wehner R, Rössler W (2017) The role of celestial compass information in Cataglyphis ants during learning walks and for neuroplasticity in the central complex and mushroom bodies. Front Behav Neurosci 11:226.
• Fleischmann PN, Grob R, Wehner R, Rössler W (2017) Species-specific differences in the fine structure of learning walk elements in Cataglyphis ants. J Exp Biol 220, 2426–2435.   

*equal contribution