Alina Nick

Alina Nick is a Doctoral Researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology and a member of the International Max Planck Research School (IMPRS). She is affiliated with the Department of Insect Symbiosis at Friedrich Schiller University Jena, where her research focuses on the molecular basis of defensive symbiosis in Lagria beetles.

Her work explores interactions between insects and microbial symbionts, particularly how these relationships contribute to host defense mechanisms and adaptation to plant-based environments. This aligns with broader fields of insect microbiology and chemical ecology.

Alina is supervised by Prof. Dr. Martin Kaltenpoth (Department of Insect Symbiosis) and Dr. Christian Hertweck (Chemistry of Insect-Microbe Interactions). She is currently pursuing her PhD, which began in 2021.