People
Dr. Pengjuan Zu 祖鹏娟(PI)
I am interested in understanding the evolutionary and ecological processes of the chemical communication between plants and insects by integrating concepts from biology, chemistry and information theory.
Assistant Professor, University of Neuchatel (2025 - )
Current position: SNSF PRIMA Group leader (2021 - )
2012 - 2017 PhD : University of Zurich, Switzerland
2009 - 2011 MSc : Uppsala University, Sweden
2005 - 2009 BSc : Beijing Normal University, China
Amélie Kirchhofer (Lab manager)
Roberto Rebollo H.(PhD student, 2021.11 - )
My main interests are plant-insect interactions, chemical communication and community ecology. I conduct fieldwork in alpine meadows in eastern Switzerland, characterise the chemical traits of plants, and study how chemical traits shape interaction networks.
Song Ju (PhD student, 2025.07 - )
Community-level plant volatiles and plant-insect interaction network
Fotoula (Fotini) Papandreou (PhD student, 2026.07 - )
I am a PhD researcher in Ecology interested in bee–plant interactions, bee nutrition, and chemical ecology.My research explores how urbanization and changes in floral resources shape wild bee diets and interactions with plants, combining field ecology, metabarcoding, and chemical approaches. I am also passionate about science communication and making ecological research accessible and engaging to broader audiences.
Subidsha Gnanaseelan (Master student, 2025 - 2026)
Flower-bumblebee interactions in urban areas
Emma Samajitsuriya (Intern, 2026)
Project in flower-bee interactions
Flora Linder (Intern, 2026)
Teaching assitant for TP Chemical Ecology
Key collaborators
Alumi
Jérôme Cavailles (Postdoc researcher)
I am interested in developing theoretical frameworks to better understand ecosystem dynamics. In particular, I apply information theory to study species interactions and ecological networks. By using mathematical models to formalize ecological processes and the flow of information within these networks, I aim to explore the principles governing self-organization, resilience, and adaptation in ecology and beyond.
Dr. Yan Yang (Postdoc, 2022 - 2024)
My research focuses on the chemical ecology and plant-insect interactions. I study the patterns and aim to understand the underlying processes of plant-insect communication in various habitats (e.g., Alpine grassland, tropical/subtropical forests, agricultural fields). I hope to bring new insights on plant-insect network and further contribute to biodiversity conservation and restoration practices.
Annaïck Tronel (Intern, 2026)
Chemical Ecology
Lea Stern (Bachelor student, 2023-2024)
My bachelor thesis addresses the question about how flower nectar sugars of alpine grassland communities in Switzerland are influenced by the pollinators, their phylogenetic relationship and the environmental factor (altitude).
Dominic Stalder (Master student, 2022)
Flurina Zahn (Bachelor student, 2023)
Eleonora Maccanelli (Bachelor student, 2025.04 - 06 )
Victor Kuznetsov (Civil Service, 2025.04.28 - 07.31)