@jangogarten
Evolutionary community ecologist interested in disease emergence. Work with environmental DNA, primates, bacteriophages. Like bicycles. Heading a junior research group at the Helmholtz Institute for One Health.
Friendly reminder that simply changing the search engine you use can contribute to forest #restoration efforts! A cool video highlighting our efforts in Uganda's Kibale National Park: youtu.be/gNQjGYqaN0w
@ecosiasearch.bsky.social @helmholtzhzi.bsky.social @helmholtz-hioh.bsky.social
Published in @jappliedecology.bsky.social!😀
We show how (Hierarchical) Hidden Markov Models ((H)HMMs) can be tailored to different epidemiological scenarios to infer disease status directly from animal movement data.
🔗 ttps://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1365-2664.70323
3,500 years of sheeppox virus evolution inferred from archaeological and codicological genomes https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.02.23.707469v1
🚨 New research traces Mpox (MPXV)🧬 Fire-footed rope squirrels are a likely reservoir. In Taï NP,mangabeys caught MPXV by eating them—showing a direct spillover pathway & zoonotic risk.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
#Mpox
@taichimpproject.bsky.social @jangogarten.bsky.social @scs22.bsky.social
Approximate timeframe: ~9–12 months (flexible start, from mid-2026). Ideal candidate would have a strong interest in molecular methods, biodiversity conservation, and/or global health. Travel, lab work and nice team! Happy to answer questions. Please spread the word! @helmholtz-hioh.bsky.social
We are offering a Masters project with Benno Kreuels at the BNITM, with aim of developing #eDNA tools to monitor #snakes and help determine snake species involved with bites. Involves work with patient samples and combines lab experiments, bioinfo analyses, and testing international sample sets.
Fantastic :-) Fits well with the great project of heimspiel-wissenschaft.de
Ich wusste nicht, wie sehr ich das gebraucht hatte.
Danke, Weitenhagen und was für eine liebe Gruppe von Community Builders. Und wenn ihr mal eingeladen werdet - kann ich euch nur mut geben das angebot anzunehmen!
Nach einer Stunde+ wollte Joachim Schluss machen und mich nach Hause lassen. Aber dann kam noch die Stunde mit fragen und ideen. Und dann sollte es schluss sein - aber kamm noch mehr Ideen - von geschichten über Vogelarbeit zu Stoffwindeln und Nachhaltigkeit.
Und wow. 40 Menschen an eine, Freitagabend noch wach und witzig, mit kluge Fragen und total vertieft. Lebendiger als jede Lehrveranstaltung die ich seit Covid erlebt habe. Persönlich, offen, freundlich – von globalen Themen bis zum eigenen Hinterhof.
Ein Bier wurde mir angeboten + ich habe alte Slides geöffnet. Joachim stellte mich lieb vor - mit Lebensgesichte und Erinnerung das wir freundliche reden und nicht uns belehren. Und es ging los, mit Geschichten aus dem Dschungel, warum ich Primaten liebe + wie ich zum Thema Krankheitsökologie kam.
Ich kam „pünktlich“ um 19:00 (also 15 Minuten zu spät, MV-Lernkurve) – und war überrascht:
Eine alte Schule, liebevoll renoviert, 40 Leute, U-förmig sitzend und quatschend. Aber Beamer + Leinwand. Sie erwarteten einen Vortrag oder Fotos ;-)
Politik ist gerade kompliziert in Deutschland. Aber am Telefon war Joachim Hauswald warm und offen.
„Nicht vorbereiten, wir reden einfach“, sagte er. Also fuhr ich zu meinem ersten MV-Stammtisch.
Ich wusste ehrlich nicht, was mich erwartet. Stammtisch = Kneipe? Ich bin in Nord Amerika aufgewachsen und kannte das Konzept nicht. Ein Freund fragte, ob ich mich auf Diskussionen mit Verschwörungstheoretikern einlasse – Thema war Krankheitsentstehung, was seit Covid schwieriges thema ist.
Now I try in German :)
In all dem Chaos in der Welt: ein kleiner Lichtblick aus #MecklenburgVorpommern.
Vor ein paar Wochen lud mich der ehemalige Bürgermeister von Weitenhagen (bei Greifswald) zu einem „Stammtisch“ ein – zum Kennenlernen und Reden.
People
Thanks for the experience - and I encourage anyone in @kreisvg.bsky.social (e.g., @unigreifswald.bsky.social, @greifswaldmoor.bsky.social, @leed-greifswald.bsky.social @kruppkolleg.bsky.social) to take up Joachim on an invite if they get one :-)
My hat goes off to the Dorfstammtisch Weitenhage. What a good idea. Solid community builders. They give me hope that in the chaos of the world right now - there are people who don't like the isolation they see in the world. Who want to know their neighbors and create a space to exchange.
And - it was so good. To talk and laugh and learn. What a good thing to have a in a small village in Germany - a group of regulars that invites people from the region to come and talk to them about what they are up to and engage in topics they are interested in.
We talked about change in the region and ways to go back to being more conscious of resource use and community. He left, and I sat down with a beer to the rest of the group. And we kept talking + talking.
And Joachim again said it was time for the group to let me go home - and half the people got up and left. The rest, opened another beer or a water and kept talking. Someone came up + told me about their decades of work with birds -we ended up talking reusable diapers + sustainability.
After more than an hour - Joachim gave a wink and said that it was time to wrap up so I could head home. But then came the questions - and everyone just stayed for another hour. More great questions and research ideas and people to meet and things to do.
It was more lively than any classroom I've experienced since covid - it was personal and open and they were kind with each other and with me. There were big and small questions - and went from the global scale to our backyard.
It was, refreshing and I didn't realize how badly I needed it. Amazing and not what I expected. They guided the talk and we skipped around in the presentation + to other slide decks, to topics they wanted to know about - they suggested neighbors who might be interesting to talk with.
And we were off; I told them about the jungle and why I love primates, how I ended up landing in the field of disease ecology. And they were so engaged - it knocked me off my feet. To have 40 people stay awake for a talk on a Friday night - making jokes, asking insightful questions.
So they were expecting a talk, which I hadn't really prepared, but I pulled up something from a while back - I got a beer and a sweet introduction from Joachim that told a bit of my life story, but made clear that we were engaging here in a polite exchange and not political rancor or a lesson.
I arrived late (well on time, but in MV that is 15 minutes late, I am still learning) and walked in and it was nothing like I expected. They'd renovated a former school into a community space - there were 40 people sitting around a big U-shaped space chatting. But also a big projector and a screen.
Politics in Germany is messy right now - but when Joachim Hauswald got me on the phone, he was warm and so off I went to my first MV Stammtisch. He'd mentioned I didn't need to prepare and we could just have a conversation and I could tell everyone about the topic + the @helmholtz-hioh.bsky.social.
I had no idea what to expect. 'Stammtish' means a regulars table at a bar and I had visions of a smoky backroom in bar - a friend asked if I was setting myself up for getting attacked by conspiracy theorists as the email asked if I'd talk about disease emergence, a hot topic since covid.
