Dr Heiko Vogel
Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology, Department of Entomology, Jena, Germany
Heiko Vogel studied Biology from 1989-1995 at the Justus-Liebig-University in Giessen, Germany, and received his PhD in Molecular Biology in 1999. He subsequently became project leader at the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology in 2000 and research group leader in the Entomology Department in 2004. His research focuses on the larger question of how insects can cope with a harsh, noxious, or dangerous environment. There are three main lines of research; (1) disentangling the mechanisms of how insects can cope with food-derived challenges, such as plant defensive chemistries, (2) understanding insects’ defences against enemies and pathogens, and (3) identifying mechanisms that enable insects adapting to extreme ecological niches.