Erik Frank

Dr. Erik Frank is an Emmy Noether Group Leader and former Assistant Professor (2021-2022) at the Department of Animal Ecology and Tropical Biology (Zoology III) within the Faculty of Biology at the University of Würzburg, Germany. His laboratory, based at the Biocenter's Campus North, investigates social wound care behaviors in ants and other social insects. With research stations in both laboratory and tropical field environments, his work bridges fundamental biological research with potential medical applications through the study of evolutionary solutions to health challenges in social insects.

Frank's research centers on social immunity and the evolution of medical behaviors in social insects, particularly ants. His groundbreaking work documents how species like Megaponera analis provide wound care to injured nestmates through antimicrobial treatments and even medical amputations. His investigations span predator-prey interactions, chemical communication systems, and the evolutionary drivers behind collective medical behaviors in tropical species. This research has established "social wound care" as a recognized field within social immunity studies, with implications for understanding disease management in human societies.

His publications reveal consistent focus on ant medical behaviors, showing progression from initial documentation of wound care (2017-2018) to deeper investigations of mechanisms and evolutionary drivers (2023-2025). The research spans multiple disciplines including behavioral ecology, chemical communication, microbiology, and evolutionary biology, with increasing sophistication in methodology from field observations to chemical analyses and mathematical modeling.

Dr. Frank has received prestigious recognition including the Emmy Noether Group Leader position from the German Research Foundation and the Hector RCD Award. His work has been featured in major media outlets worldwide including The New York Times, The Guardian, National Geographic, and Die Zeit, particularly following his 2017 discovery of ant wound care and his 2024 research on medical amputations.

As a mentor, Frank supervises multiple PhD students including Vibhuti Bhat (studying Megaponera analis), Juan José Lagos Oviedo (researching Eciton genus), and Seiji Fujimoto (investigating medical amputations). His laboratory maintains colonies of various ant species including Megaponera analis, Eciton species, Dinoponera grandis, and Pseudomyrmex for behavioral and chemical analyses. Current projects are funded by the DFG and Hector Fellow Academy, focusing on social wound care evolution, interkingdom wound care between ants and plants, and medical amputation behaviors.