Dr. Alena Krüger

Research interests

Marine mammals are fascinating in many ways. Over millions of years, they adapted to a fully aquatic lifestyle. While most mammals can hold their breath for only a few minutes, some whales and seals conduct dives of up to two hours. They evolved several physiological adaptations to cope with low oxygen conditions in order to protect their vital organs from hypoxia and oxidative stress. Despite those adaptations, oxygen stores in the body of whales and seals are depleted during long dives. Of all organs, the brain is the most vulnerable to hypoxia due to its high oxygen consumption. To date little is known about the mechanisms that help the brain of marine mammals to survive periods with reduced oxygen availability. My research focuses on the molecular mechanisms underlying the hypoxia tolerance of the brain of whales. Using a transcriptomic approach as well as functional studies in cell culture and different enzyme assays, my aim is to identify pathways and metabolic adaptations that help the whale brain survive repeated periods of hypoxia and oxidative stress.

Curriculum vitae

Since 2020          Postdoctoral Researcher, University of Hamburg

2016 – 2020       PhD student, Institute of Zoology, University of Hamburg: “Molecular basis of hypoxia tolerance in the whale brain”

2013 – 2016       M.Sc. Marine biology, University of Rostock:  “PAH metabolites in mobula japanica from Northern Peru compared to different species of bony fish“

2010 – 2013       B.Sc. Biology, University of Heidelberg: “New Ways in Aquatic Neurotoxicology: The Olfactory Epithelium of Zebrafish (Danio rerio) as a Possible Indicator of Neurotoxic Effects “

Scholarships

2017     DAAD Scholarship for conferences

2016     Doctoral scholarship of the “Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes”

2015     DAAD PROMOS scholarship

Publications

2020

Krüger, A., Fabrizius, A., Mikkelsen, B., Siebert, U., Folkow, L. P., & Burmester, T. (2020). Transcriptome analysis reveals a high aerobic capacity in the whale brain. Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology Part A: Molecular & Integrative Physiology, 240, 110593.

Conference presentations

2019
Talk:

Krüger, A., Fabrizius, A., Mikkelsen, B., Siebert, U., Folkow, L. P., & Burmester, T. (2019). Molecular mechanisms of hypoxia tolerance in the whale brain. 112. Jahrestagung der Deutschen Zoologischen Gesellschaft (DZG), Jena, Germany

2018
Talk:

Krüger, A., Fabrizius, A., Mikkelsen, B., Siebert, U., Folkow, L. P., & Burmester, T. (2018). Into the deep: A transcriptome analysis of the molecular mechanisms of hypoxia tolerance in the whale brain. 111. Jahrestagung der Deutschen Zoologischen Gesellschaft (DZG), Greifswald, Germany

2017
Poster:

Krüger, A., Fabrizius, A., Folkow, L. P., & Burmester, T. (2017). The brain in the deep: A transcriptome analysis of the molecular mechanisms of hypoxia tolerance in the whale brain. 110. Jahrestagung der Deutschen Zoologischen Gesellschaft (DZG), Bielefeld, Germany

Krüger, A., Fabrizius, A., Folkow, L. P., & Burmester, T. (2017). Hypoxia Tolerance in Whales: A Transcriptome Analysis of the Diving Brain. Internationale Konferenz der Society for Experimental Biology (SEB), Göteborg, Sweden

Krüger, A., Fabrizius, A., & Burmester, T. (2017). A transcriptome analysis of the molecular mechanism of hypoxia tolerance in the whale brain. 30. Konferenz der European Cetacean Society (ECS), Middlefart, Denmark