Birgit Gessler

Birgit Gessler, M.Sc., is a doctoral student and research associate at the University of Hohenheim’s Institute of Animal Sciences, part of the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences. Her work focuses on population genomics in livestock and honeybee molecular biology. Since 2015, she has conducted PhD research on detecting molecular signals for diploid drone recognition in Apis mellifera, supervised by Prof. Dr. Martin Hasselmann. Since 2019, she has contributed to the SETBie project, investigating genetic markers for Varroa-sensitive hygiene (VSH) in bee colonies to combat Varroa mites. She collaborates with beekeepers, associations, and universities in Baden-Württemberg to develop varroa-tolerant bee populations.

Education: Master’s in Biology (University of Hohenheim, 2012–2014), specializing in Genetics. Current role combines molecular and biochemical analyses to understand bee behavior and breeding strategies. She is affiliated with the Hohenheim Center for Livestock Microbiome Research (HoLMiR) and Competence Center for Biodiversity and Integrative Taxonomy (KomBioTa).