Hildegard Uecker

Hildegard Uecker is a Research group leader at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology in Plön, Germany, where she leads the "Stochastic Evolutionary Dynamics" research group (also known as "the Rescue Team"). She is affiliated with the Department of Theoretical Biology (also referred to as the Department of Evolutionary Theory) at the institute.

Dr. Uecker's research focuses on adaptation in populations challenged by environmental change or drug treatment, with the goal of improving conservation efforts and decelerating the emergence of drug resistance. As a mathematician, she specializes in stochastic modeling, particularly the application of branching process theory to biological problems.

Her primary research areas include:

• Stochasticity in evolution, particularly the establishment process of beneficial alleles in complex scenarios
• Eco-evolutionary dynamics and evolutionary rescue, where populations either adapt to harsh environmental change or go extinct
• Evolution of antibiotic resistance, with a focus on plasmid-mediated resistance and treatment strategies

Dr. Uecker's recent publications demonstrate a strong focus on evolutionary rescue mechanisms, particularly in bacterial populations with multicopy plasmids, and the mathematical modeling of antibiotic resistance evolution. Her work spans from theoretical population genetics to practical applications in infectious disease treatment.

Dr. Uecker has received recognition for her contributions to mathematical evolutionary biology, with publications in high-impact journals such as Genetics, Evolution, PLoS Computational Biology, and the Journal of the Royal Society Interface.

She actively mentors students and postdocs, with current lab members including Dr. Ian Dewan (Postdoc), Jannika Elfert (PhD student), and Alica Merkens (Master's student). Former students include Dr. Ernesto Berríos-Caro, Christin Nyhoegen, Mario Santer, and Dr. Félix Geoffroy.

Dr. Uecker is engaged in scientific outreach, contributing to the correspondence seminar "Selected topics in Evolutionary Biology" for high school students, developing educational materials about antibiotic resistance and viruses, and participating in events like the Max Planck Day.