Prof. Dr. Michael Hiller
Professor of Comparative Genomics
LOEWE Centre for Translational Biodiversity Genomics,
Senckenberg Research Institute,
Goethe University, Frankfurt, Germany
Twitter: @hillermich
SCIENTIFIC CAREER
since 09/2020
Professor of Comparative Genomics, LOEWE Centre for Translational Biodiversity Genomics, Senckenberg Society for Nature Research & Goethe University, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
2018 – 2020
Senior Research Group Leader, jointly at the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics and the Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems, Dresden
2011-2017
Research Group Leader, jointly at the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics and the Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems, Dresden
2008-2011
Postdoctoral work at Stanford University, Department of Developmental Biology, USA
2007-2008
Postdoctoral work at University of Freiburg, Bioinformatics Group, Germany
2002-2006
PhD in Bioinformatics, University of Jena and University of Freiburg, Germany
AWARDS
2019
Young Investigator, Technical University Dresden
2013
German Life Science Award
2009-2011
Long-term Postdoc Fellowship from the Human Frontier Science Program (HFSP)
2008-2009
Postdoc fellowship from the German Research Foundation
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
Blumer M, Brown T, Freitas MB, Destro AL, Oliveira JA, Morales A, Schell T, Greve C, Pippel M, Jebb D, Hecker N, Ahmed AW, Kirilenko BM, Foote M, Janke A, Lim BK, Hiller M #. Gene losses in the common vampire bat illuminate molecular adaptations to blood feeding. Science Advances, 8 (12), eabm6494, 2022
Featured in Scientific American, Smithsonian, PBS, National Geographic and more
Roscito JG, Sameith K, Kirilenko BM, Hecker N, Winkler S, Dahl A, Rodrigues MT, Hiller M #. Convergent and lineage-specific genomic differences in limb regulatory elements in limbless reptile lineages. Cell Reports, 38(3):110280, 2022
Jebb D, Huang Z, Pippel M, Hughes GM, Lavrichenko K, Devanna P, Winkler S, Jermiin LS, Skirmuntt EC, Katzourakis A, Burkitt-Gray L, Ray DA, Sullivan KAM, Roscito JG, Kirilenko BM, Dávalos LM, Corthals AP, Power ML, Jones G, Ransome RD, Dechmann D, Locatelli AG, Puechmaille SJ, Fedrigo O, Jarvis ED, Hiller M #, Vernes SC #, Myers EW #, Teeling EC #. Six reference-quality genomes reveal evolution of bat adaptations. Nature, 583, 578–584, 2020
See also Nature Reviews Genetics highlight and Science feature. More press.
Huelsmann M, Hecker N, Springer MS, Gatesy J, Sharma V, Hiller M #. Genes lost during the transition from land to water in cetaceans highlight genomic changes associated with aquatic adaptations. Science Adv, 5(9), eaaw6671, 2019
some press: New York Times, Science News, Discover Magazine, Smithsonian, Daily Herald, German Radio
F1000 recommended
Hecker N, Sharma V, Hiller M #. Convergent gene losses illuminate metabolic and physiological changes in herbivores and carnivores. PNAS, 116(8), 3036-3041, 2019
Roscito JG, Sameith K, Parra G, Langer BE, Petzold A, Moebius C, Bickle M, Rodrigues MT, Hiller M #. Phenotype loss is associated with widespread divergence of the gene regulatory landscape in evolution. Nature Communications, 9:4737, 2018
Lee JH, Lewis KM, Moural TW, Kirilenko B, Bogdanova B, Prange G, Koessl M, Huggenberger S, Kang C, and Hiller M #. Molecular parallelism in fast-twitch muscle proteins in echolocating mammals. Science Adv, 4(9), eaat9660, 2018
Sharma V, Hecker N, Roscito JG, Foerster L, Langer BE, and Hiller M #. A genomics approach reveals insights into the importance of gene losses for mammalian adaptations. Nature Communications, 9(1), 1215, 2018
Nowoshilow S, Schloissnig S #, Fei JF, Dahl A, Pang AWC, Pippel M, Winkler S, Hastie AR, Young G, Roscito JG, Falcon F, Knapp D, Powell S, Cruz A, Cao H, Habermann B, Hiller M #, Tanaka EM #, Myers E. The axolotl genome and the evolution of key tissue formation regulators. Nature, 554(7690), 50-55, 2018.
Hiller M, Schaar BT, Indjeian VB, Kingsley DM, Hagey LR, and Bejerano G. (2012): A “forward genomics” approach links genotype to phenotype using independent phenotypic losses among related species. Cell Reports, 2(4), 817-823. Read more on F1000
