Palaeontology
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Curriculum Vitae

Research Interests

  • Evolution of demosponges
  • Phylogenomics
  • RADseq
  • Sequencing capturing
  • Systematics and phylogenetics of demosponges
  • Paleobiology
  • Molecular clocks
  • Morphology of rock sponges

Current Position

July 2014 – present Research Assistant and PhD student, Molecular Geo- and Palaeobiology Lab., Dept. of Geo- and Environmental Sciences, Geobiology and Palaeontology, LMU München, Germany. Supervisors: PD Dr. Dirk Erpenbeck and Prof. Dr. Gert Wörheide, LMU Munich.

Education

  • 2009 – 2011 Studies of Geological Sciences at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität (LMU) München and the Technische Universität München (TUM). Specialization in Geobiology. Master of Science Degree. Master Thesis: Molecular phylogeny of lithistid sponges (Porifera: Demospongiae). Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Gert Wörheide and PD Dr. Dirk Erpenbeck.
  • 2006 – 2009. Studies of Earth Sciences at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität (LMU) München and the Technische Universität München (TUM). Specialization in Geology. Bachelor of Science Degree. Bachelor Thesis: Isotop-geochemical investigations on sediment cores from the Comau-Fjord (Chile). Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Alexander Altenbach and PD Dr. Christoph Mayr.

Working Experience

  • Oct. 2013 – June 2014 Research Associate, Evolutionary Biology Centre, Department of Organismal Biology, Systematic Biology, Uppsala University, Sweden. Head researcher: Prof. Dr. Mikael Thollesson, Uppsala University.
  • March 2013 – Sep. 2013 Guest Scientist, Molecular Geo- and Palaeobiology Lab., Department of Geo- and Environmental Sciences, Geobiology and Palaeontology, LMU München, Germany. Head researcher: Prof. Dr. Gert Wörheide, LMU München.
  • Jan 2012 – Feb. 2013 Research Associate, Bavarian State Collections of Paleontology and Geology in Munich and Molecular Geo- and Palaeobiology Lab., Department of Geo- and Environmental Sciences, Geobiology and Palaeontology, LMU München, Germany. Head researcher: Prof. Dr. Gert Wörheide, LMU München.
  • Sep. 2009 – Jan. 2012 Student Research Assistant, Molecular Geo- and Palaeobiology Lab., Department of Geo- and Environmental Sciences, Geobiology and Palaeontology, LMU München, Germany. Head researcher: Prof. Dr. Gert Wörheide, LMU München.
  • Sep. 2008 – Nov. 2008 Student Intern, Geotechnical Office of Prof. Dr. Schuller & Dr.-Ing. Gödecke, Augsburg, Germany.
  • 2002 – 2004 Business Management Assistant, Bfa See- und Luftausrüstung GmbH & Co KG, Augsburg, Germany.

Teaching Experience

  • 2014 Teaching Assistant, Master Course: Invertebrate Identification, Uppsala University, Sweden. Lecturer in charge: Prof. Dr. Mikael Thollesson.
  • 2014 Teaching Assistant, Bachelor Course: Marine Biology, Uppsala University, Sweden. Lecturer in charge: Prof. Dr. Mikael Thollesson.
  • 2014 Teaching Assistant, Master Course: Fundamental and Molecular Systematics, Uppsala University, Sweden. Lecturer in charge: Prof. Dr. Mikael Thollesson.
  • 2012 and 2013 Teaching Assistant, Master Course: Phylogenetic Analysis of Morphological and Molecular Data, Biozentrum Martinsried, LMU München, Germany. Lecturer in charge: Prof. Dr. Gerhard Haszprunar, Dr. Oliver Voigt and PD Dr. Dirk Erpenbeck.
  • 2011 and 2013 Teaching Assistant, Master Lab Course: Special Methods in Palaeobiology. Molecular Geo- and Palaeobiology Lab., Department of Geo- and Environmental Sciences, Geobiology and Palaeontology, LMU München, Germany. Lecturer in charge: Dr. Oliver Voigt and PD and Dr. Dirk Erpenbeck.

Co-supervising of Bachelor and Master students

  • 2015/6 Carolin Gut (MSc) “Diversity and Phylogenetic Relationships of Tetractinellids from the Bahamas”, Department of Geo- and Environmental Sciences, Geobiology and Palaeontology, LMU München, Germany. Main supervisor: PD Dr. Dirk Erpenbeck.
  • 2014 Nikola Gayer (BSc) “Untersuchungen zur Diversität von Schwämmen in den Mörnsheimer Schichten”, Department of Geo- and Environmental Sciences, Geobiology and Palaeontology, LMU München, Germany. Main supervisor: Prof. Dr. Gert Wörheide.
  • 2013 Markus Steiner (BSc) “Taxonomie und Phylogenie ausgewählter afrikanischer Süßwasser-schwämme”, Department of Geo- and Environmental Sciences, Geobiology and Palaeontology, LMU München, Germany. Main supervisor: PD Dr. Dirk Erpenbeck.

Scholarships and Awards

  • July 2017 Best student poster prize in category “Systematics” at the 10th World Sponge Conference in Galway, Ireland.
  • June 2014 ForBio travel grant – Workshop University of Bergen (500 EUR).
  • June 2014 HELGE Ax:SON JOHNSONS STIFTELSE (40.000 SEK).
  • May 2014 K.V. Ossian Dahlgren’s literature scholarship (3.000 SEK).
  • Nov. 2012 – Nov. 2015 Affiliation to the LMUMentoring Geosciences program at the LMU München, Germany. Several grants for research visits, conferences and workshops received (~6.000 EUR).
  • Feb. 2012 PROSA LMU scholarship for a one month research visit at the Institute of Paleobiology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warszawa, Poland. Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Andrzej Pisera (500 EUR).

Conferences and Workshops

  • 2017 Basis-Seminar: Exzellent führen. Führend forschen. Center for Leadership and People Management, Munich, Germany.
  • 2017 10th World Sponge Conference, Galway, Ireland.
  • 2017 17th Annual Meeting of the Gesellschaft für Biologische Systematik, LMU München, Germany.
  • 2017 3rd International Workshop on Atlanto-Mediterranean Deep-Sea Sponge Fauna, Spanish Institute of Oceanography (ICO), Gijón, Spain.
  • 2015 Scientific discussion meeting on Dating species divergences using rocks and clocks, The Royal Society of London, UK.
  • 2015 GIGA II (Global Invertebrate Genomics Alliance) Workshop, LMU München, Germany.
  • 2014 2nd International Workshop on Atlanto-Mediterranean Deep-Sea Sponge Fauna, University of Bergen, Norway.
  • 2014 EMBO Practical Course – Computational Molecular Evolution, HCMR Heraklion, Crete.
  • 2013 9th World Sponge Conference, Fremantle, Western Australia.
  • 2013 Sponge Classification Workshop 2013, Perth University, Australia.
  • 2012 Paläontologische Gesellschaft (PALGES), Berlin, Germany.

Professional Scientific Service

  • 2017 Reviewer für das Journal PeerJ.
  • 2016 Reviewer für das Journal Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society.
  • 2016 Reviewer für das Journal Zootaxa.

Konferenzbeiträge

  • Schuster A, Pisera A, Kelly M, Pomponi SA, Wörheide G, Erpenbeck D (2017). The Western Tropical Atlantic “ring” of rock sponges – A molecular phylogenetic approach using four different markers (28S, 18S, ITS and COI). 10th World Sponge Conference, Galway, Ireland (Poster prize in category ”Systematics”).
  • Schuster A, Cárdenas P, Pisera A, Pomponi SA, Kelly M, Wörheide G, Erpenbeck D (2017). Deep-water tetractinellid sponges from the Galápagos Islands: first molecular and morphological analysis reveals seven new species. 10th World Sponge Conference, Galway, Ireland (Poster).
  • Schuster A, Vargas S, Knapp IS, Pomponi SA, Toonen RJ, Erpenbeck D, Wörheide G (2017). Dating Demosponge Divergences –New Mitogenomes from ezRAD and the Fossilized Birth-Death Clock Model. 10th World Sponge Conference, Galway, Ireland (Poster).
  • Schuster A, Lopez JV, Becking LE, Shirley AP, Kelly M, Wörheide G, Erpenbeck D, Cárdenas P (2017). Tetractinellida is a hot-spot of Group I Introns: vertical gene transfer, secondary losses and implications for DNA barcoding. 10th World Sponge Conference, Galway, Ireland (Oral Presentation).
  • Lopez JV, Vijayan N, Cuvelier ML, Easson CG, Blake E, Schuster A, Campbell AM, Blackwelder P, Khan Y, Cárdenas P (2017). Cinachyrella spp. as a model sponge genus for evolution, microbial symbiosis and experimental biology. 10th World Sponge Conference, Galway, Ireland (Poster).
  • Erpenbeck D, Mai S, Steiner M, Schuster A, Wörheide G (2017). Molecular Taxonomy of African Freshwater Sponges. 10th World Sponge Conference, Galway, Ireland (Poster).
  • Schuster A, Knapp IS, Pomponi SA, Francis WR, Vargas S, Erpenbeck D, Toonen RJ, Wörheide G (2016). A first evaluation of RAD-Seq to address phylogenetic questions within demosponges. 17th Annual Meeting of the Gesellschaft für Biologische Systematik, München, Germany. Zittelina 88: p.45 (Poster).
  • Schuster A, Becking LE, Lopez JV, Pomponi SA, Kelly M, Lavrov DV, Wörheide G, Erpenbeck D, Cárdenas P (2016). Mobile genetic elements in sponge mitochondria: vertical transmission, independent colonization, and consequences for systematics. 17th Annual Meeting of the Gesellschaft für Biologische Systematik, München, Germany. Zittelina 88: p.44-45 (Oral Presentation).
  • Schuster A, Erpenbeck D, Pisera A, Wörheide G (2013). Molecular palaeobiology of Lithistid’ demosponges: A new classification. 9th World Sponge Conference, Fremantle, Western Australia ISBN: 978-0-9874158-3-7 p.63-64 (Oral Presentation).
  • Debitus C, Pisera A, Schuster A, Al Mourabit A, Curvat X, Hertrich L (2013). First record of lithistid sponge from the submarine caves from the Nuku Hiva (Marquesas Islands) and Tahiti Iti (Society Islands), Frensch Polynesia. 9th World Sponge Conference, Fremantle, Western Australia ISBN: 978-0-9874158-3-7 p.109 (Poster).
  • Schuster A, Erpenbeck D, Pisera A, Wörheide G (2012). New insights into the classification of desma-bearing demosponges (Lithistida) –A combined molecular and morphological study. Centenary Meeting of the Paläontologische Gesellschaft, Berlin, Germany. Terra Nostra, Schriften der GeoUnion Alfred-Wegener-Stiftung Vol. 2012/3: p.161 (Oral Presentation).
  • Schuster A, Erpenbeck D, Wörheide G (2011). Molecular phylogeny of lithistid sponges (Porifera: Demospongiae) supports resolution of pattern and timing of demosponge evolution. Deep Metazoan Phylogeny, München, Germany. Zitteliana Series B 30: p.46 (Poster).
  • Vargas S, Erpenbeck S, Schuster A, Sacher K, Büttner G, Schätzle S, Wörheide G (2010). A high-throughput, low-cost Porifera DNA barcoding pipeline. 8th World Sponge Conference, Girona, Spain p.353 (Poster).
  • Erpenbeck D, Hall K, Schätzle S, Büttner G, Voigt O, Vargas S, Sacher K, Schuster A, Läuchli B, Hooper JNA, Wörheide G (2010). Progress and workflow of the Sponge Barcoding Project. 8th World Sponge Conference, Girona, Spain p.188 (Poster).

Additional skills/qualifications

Programming skills:
basic linux shell, python and perl
mySQL, ArcGIS

Software and Bioinformatic tools:
Geneious, MrBayes, Mesquite, RAxML, Paup, TNT, BEAST2, RStudio, Latex, Seaview, RNAviz, Aliview, Mafft, pyRAD, NGS tools such as Trimmomatic, Pear, FastQC, Bowtie2 and Trinity.

Laboratory methods:
DNA& RNA extractions of various marine invertebrates, PCR, qPCR, Sanger Sequencing, Cloning; various NGS techniques: GBS, RADseq, Bioanalyzer, Illumina sequencing; Light Microscopy, SEM and diverse histological methods.

Miscellaneous information:

Languages: professional German, English and Luxembourgish, basic French and Swedish

Diving licenses:PADI advanced diver with experience in collecting sponges and under water photography.