Nicolas Rohner, Ph.D., a developmental biologist, joined the Stowers Institute in September, 2015 as an Associate Investigator.

Rohner earned a B.S. in biology and an M.S. in genetics at Friedrich-Alexander-University (FAU) in Erlangen, Germany, in 2002. He earned his Ph.D. at the Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology in the lab of nobel laureate Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard, Ph.D. Rohner completed his postdoctoral training in the lab of developmental biologist Cliff Tabin, PhD, at Harvard Medical School, where he focused primarily on the genetics of the cavefish Astyanax mexicanus.

In the Rohner Lab, the team studies the Mexican cavefish – descendants of river fish swept into dark underground caves by floods hundreds of thousands of years ago. Rohner uses cavefish as an ideal model system in which to study adaptation and resilience. Due to the complete darkness in caves, cavefish rely entirely on outside food sources, brought in by seasonal flooding during the rainy season. As such, cavefish have evolved a feasting and fasting cycle, allowing them to store impressive amounts of body fat and starve for months with ease. The lab has developed a system to compare fish from the river to the fish who live in caves. It gives scientists a rare look at what happens when species adapt to extreme nutritional challenges.