News on Dönertas Group

Mini-Group Retreat

Fri, 20 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Yesterday, we had a fantastic mini-group retreat centered around AI. We had an engaging and thought-provoking day from start to finish - kicking things off with coffee and a panoramic view from the JenTower, setting the tone for open conversations and shared learning.

Group 1 and 2

Group 3

Throughout the day, we explored how AI is being used in practice across the team, from diverse real-world applications to the ways each of us integrates it into our daily research workflows. We exchanged perspectives on the platforms and tools we rely on, and what makes them effective in different contexts. Claude Code stood out to be the tool of the day - for building agents and tailored workflows and using Claude skills and projects effectively. NotebookLM sparked interesting discussions around idea development, building foundational understanding, and organizing ideas.

Prasoon Pandey joins the lab as an LGSA Fellow

Wed, 01 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Welcome Prasoon Pandey, who joins the lab with a PhD fellowship from the Leibniz Graduate School on Aging (LGSA) — a joint programme between the Leibniz Institute on Aging (FLI) and Friedrich Schiller University (FSU) Jena, running since 2006.

Great to have you with us, Prasoon!

Aging and Microbiome Conference 2025 (AMC2025)

Wed, 29 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

On 28–29 October 2025 we hosted the third Aging and Microbiome Conference (AMC2025) at FLI — co-organised by Clara Correia-Melo, Dario Valenzano, Melike Dönertaş, and Katarzyna Winek.

Melike Dönertaş opening AMC25

Katarzyna Winek opening AMC25

Two days, two themes, four keynotes, a packed programme of submitted talks, poster sessions, a panel debate with live audience polling, and (because gamification really does work) sponsor bingo running through it all.

3 days of science at GJAM 2025

Fri, 26 Sep 2025 00:00:00 +0000

3 days of science at #GJAM2025.

Our group had an oral talk + 5 posters. Huge kudos to our 1st year BSc student Efe Begik for presenting his project on comparative proteomics of brain aging & neurodegeneration — fantastic to see him on stage so early and representing the group!

Efe presenting at #GJAM2025

ISMB 2025

Mon, 25 Aug 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Thanks to the Event Fellowship from the Open Bioinformatics Foundation (OBF), I had the chance to attend the 33rd Conference on Intelligent Systems for Molecular Biology (ISMB 2025) in Liverpool. It’s the annual meeting of the International Society for Computational Biology (ISCB) and the biggest conference in the field. This year, it brought together over 2,000 researchers from all over the world at ACC Liverpool, a beautiful venue right by the Albert Dock.

Tayyaba awarded OBF Event Fellowship for ISMB 2025

Tue, 01 Jul 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Huge congrats to Tayyaba Alvi for receiving an Event Fellowship from the Open Bioinformatics Foundation (OBF) to attend ISMB/ECCB 2025 in Liverpool.

The fellowship promotes diverse participation at events around open-source bioinformatics and open science. At ISMB, Tayyaba co-led a tutorial on Mendelian Randomization — read her conference reflections.

Q&A in Communications Biology: Decoding ageing

Wed, 27 Nov 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Melike was featured in a Q&A in Communications Biology, “Decoding ageing: Handan Melike Dönertaş on microbiomes, AI and improving lifespan and healthspan”.

The conversation covers the lab’s research interests — using computational approaches (machine learning, predictive modelling, causal inference, bioinformatics) alongside microbiota-transfer experiments to understand how the microbiome shapes ageing — and traces the path from MSc work on evolutionary and comparative genomics at Middle East Technical University, where the selection shadow idea first reframed ageing as a phenotype distinct from development, to starting the lab at FLI in January 2023.

Ulaş awarded Joachim Herz Stiftung Add-on Fellowship

Fri, 01 Nov 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Huge congrats to Ulaş Işıldak for the Add-on Fellowship from Joachim Herz Stiftung!

Ulaş develops computational methods to study the gut microbiome in aging. With the fellowship, he’ll learn new experimental skills, generate more data, and validate his results — bringing wet-lab depth to his computational programme.

Aging and Microbiome Conference 2024 (AMC2024)

Wed, 23 Oct 2024 00:00:00 +0000

On 22–23 October 2024 we hosted the Aging and Microbiome Conference 2024 (AMC2024) at FLI — the second instalment in our Aging and Microbiome series, building on JMM23.

Chaired by Clara Correia-Melo and Dario Valenzano, co-organised by Melike Dönertaş and Katarzyna Winek. Around 90 national and international participants joined for 1.5 days of interdisciplinary exchange — from model organisms to mechanism to clinical applications.

Dario Valenzano and Clara Correia-Melo opening AMC2024

AMC2024 organisers — Katarzyna Winek, Dario Valenzano, Clara Correia-Melo, Melike Dönertaş

The programme featured invited talks from Meng Wang, Filipe Cabreiro, Kai Blin, Maria Ermolaeva, and Maria Vehreschild — alongside 12 oral presentations selected from submitted abstracts. A poster session and a conference dinner kept the conversations going past the talks.

Ready. Set. Experiment! — wetlab is open

Sun, 15 Sep 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Ready. Set. Experiment!

Special thanks to our amazing member İsmail Güderer for being the driving force behind making this wetlab a reality. Time to get those pipettes moving.

Jena Microbiome Meeting 2023 (JMM23)

Mon, 08 May 2023 00:00:00 +0000

On 8 May 2023 we hosted the first Jena Microbiome Meeting (JMM23) at FLI — a one-day symposium co-organised by Clara Correia-Melo, Melike Dönertaş, and Katarzyna Winek. The aim: weave an aging perspective into the already vibrant microbiome research community in Jena, and start a network around it.

Around 90 participants joined for a packed programme of invited talks, a panel, posters, and a networking evening.

Melike Dönertaş opening the JMM

Poster session outside the auditorium

Eight invited speakers spanned the breadth of the field — Amelia Barber, Dario Riccardo Valenzano, Ilse Jacobsen, Kirsten Küsel, Kirstin Scherlach, Markus Lakemeyer, Michael Bauer, and Rosalind Allen. The day closed with a panel — Opportunities and Challenges in Microbiome Research — moderated by Dario Valenzano with Bas Dutilh, Christina Warinner (joining from the US via Zoom), Gianni Panagiotou, and Maria Ermolaeva. The conversation ranged from environmental microbiomes to clinical applications, from chemistry to bioinformatics.