Art meets Science
I am Mona Schreiber and passionate to tell stories out of my world of science.
After graduating as Magistra Artium in (biological) anthropology and German philology at the University of Mainz, I joined the Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research (IPK) in Gatersleben on the north-eastern edge of the Harz Mountains as a research assistant. There, as a member of the Domestication Genomics group, I did research on the cultural history of our cereals as part of my doctorate. At the same time, art, which until then had only played a role for myself, managed to become part of my working life.
Scientific expertise
In my work, I am dealing with population and palaeogenetics/genomics, the Neolithic Transition, the domestication of cultivated plants with a focus on cereals, bioinformatics, NGS data analysis, human history in general and our cultural history of the past 10,000 years and its propagation in particular. I am also highly interested in the influence of graphics and illustrations, and the appropriate communication of scientific knowledge.
Environmental education
I love to go out into nature together with children (and curious adults) to discover discover the miracles in a playful way.
Art & illustration
My artistic work has always accompanied me on my path through life. I draw, paint and photograph. Silk-screen printing inspires me by its almost infinite application possibilities. My passion for books finds its expression in the art of bookbinding. At the same time, I am constantly searching for new ways to let off steam and try things out.
The course of my life…
… I was born, went to the kindergarden and to school, played theatre and musical, communicated my opinion. I wanted to become a natural scientist, anthropologist, artist & carpenter…
… and then I found myself with the Abitur (high school certificate)in my pocket in a big, wide world,waiting to be discoverd.
Roughly what happened since then:
Scientific publications
Talks (selection)
March 2015, „Computersimulationen zum Domestikationsprozess des taurinen Hausrindes in Europa“ – Archäometrie und Denkmalpflege – RGZM, Mainz.
December 2015, „Implementing genotyping-by-sequencing in rye“ – GPZ Workshop – IPK, Gatersleben.
September 2016, „Geo-genetic population structure and geneflow in Eurasian barley populations“ – 7th International Symposium in Biomolecular Archaeology – University museum of natural history, Oxford, Great Britain.
June 2017, „All bread is not baked in one oven – the complex domestication history of rye“ – 13th Plant Science Student Conference – IPB, Halle.
January 2018, „Geneflow between rye and its wild relatives“ – PAG XXVI – San Diego, USA.
June 2018, „The art of science – make science more colorful“ – TEDx Uni Halle – Löwensaal MLU, Halle (watch the video here).
June 2018, „The cultural history of cereals from Iberia“ – 14th Plant Science Student Conference – IPK, Gatersleben.
April 2019, Invited Speaker „A glimpse into the domestication history of our cereal crops through genebank genomics“ – First International Experts Workshop on Pre-Breeding using Crop Wild Relatives – ICARDA, Rabat, Morocco.
June 2019, „Stories from 1002 Secale samples. Insights into the evolutionary history of rye and its wild realtives“ – Third Jack R. Harlan International Symposium, Montpellier, France.
Awards
June 2017, PSSC at IPB Halle: Audience award for the best talk.
June 2018, PSSC at IPK Gatersleben: Audience award for the best talk.
October 2018, BEAGLE Award: awarded by the IPK Board of the directors and the PhD Student Board to support young scientists for their scientific work and the social commitment.
Christmas 2018, Knowable Magazine: Image of the week.
February 2019, PhD with honours: summa cum laude