Ulrich Steiner

Dr. Ulrich Steiner is a Heisenberg Fellow and Group Leader at the Institute of Biology within the Department of Biology, Chemistry, Pharmacy at Freie Universität Berlin. His research focuses on evolutionary demography, exploring how demographic events (reproduction, survival) drive population dynamics and the evolution of individual heterogeneity. His work bridges theoretical models with empirical studies using bacteria microfluidic systems, longitudinal primate data, and human aging projects like AgeGuess.

Research Interests:

• Evolutionary and ecological processes shaping populations
• Individual heterogeneity dynamics
• Stochastic vs adaptive mechanisms in demographic buffering
• Single-cell aging mechanisms in bacteria
• Human biological vs chronological age comparisons
• Phenotypic plasticity and cryptic genetic variation

Collaborations include Shripad Tuljapurkar (Stanford), Raisa Hernández-Pacheco (USULB), and INSERM/Paris Descartes. The Steiner Lab uses Markov chain theory and microfluidics to study aging in microbes, while human aging studies involve citizen science platforms.

Key Projects:

• Bacteria microfluidic systems for single-cell senescence analysis
• Cayo Santiago macaque longitudinal data
• AgeGuess database (chronological vs perceived age comparisons)