Robin Grob
Contact
Robin Grob
Research interest
My research aims to understand how insects integrate different sensory cues during navigation. As a PhD student in Wolfgang Rössler’s lab at the University of Wuerzburg (Germany), I studied how Cataglyphis ants set up and calibrate their navigational systems prior to foraging. Using a combination of state-of-the-art neurobiological methods and behavioral essays in the field in Greece and Tunisia, I investigated the relevance of magnetic information for the ants' navigation behavior and the neural plasticity in the brain.
As a MSCA postdoctoral fellow in Basil el Jundi’s lab (NTNU Trondheim, Norway) I am studying the migratory behavior of the Monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus). By combining behavioral and electrophysiological approaches, I aim to explore the integration of different sensory cues for migration. Specifically, I aim interested in exploring the interaction of the time-compensated sun compass and the magnetic compass in the Monarch butterflies.
short CV
since 2022 Postdoctoral Fellow | NTNU Trondheim | Norway
2017 - 2022 PhD | University of Wuerzburg | Germany
2015 - 2017 Master of Science | University of Wuerzburg | Germany
2011 - 2015 Bachelor of Science | University of Wuerzburg | Germany
Publications
Kraus CM, Jie VW, Hanslin FØ, Grob R, Beetz MJ, Baird E, el Jundi B (2026) Stable neural coding of heading across locomotory modes in the insect compass. SSNR 6294271.
Cicconardi F, Farnworth MS, Grob R, Shodja DN, Bacquet CN, el Jundi B, Martin A, Montogomery SH (2025) Emerging tools to advance neuroethology in butterflies and moths. J Comp Physiol A 1-25
Grob R, Farnworth MS, Degen J, Warrant EJ, Montgomery SH, el Jundi B (2025) The diversity of lepidopteran spatial orientation strategies - neuronal mechanisms and emerging challenges in a changing world. J Comp Physiol A 1-14.
Grob R, Wegmann JW, Rössler W, Fleischmann PN (2024) Cataglyphis ants have a polarity-sensitive magnetic compass. Curr Biol doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2024.11.012.
Grob R, Müller V, Grübel, K, Rössler W, Fleischmann PN (2024) Importance of magnetic information for neuronal plasticity in desert ants. PNAS 121, e2320764121.
Rössler W, Grob R, Fleischamnn PN (2023) The role of learning-walk related multisensory experience in rewiring visual circuits in the desert ant brain. J Comp Physiol A 209, 605-623.
Grob R, el Jundi B (2023) Insect navigation: Where to face when moving through space. Curr Biol 33, R100–R103. [Dispatch]
Fleischmann PN, Grob R, Rössler W (2022) Magnetosensation during re‑learning walks in desert ants (Cataglyphis nodus). J Comp Physiol A 208, 125–133.
Grob R, Holland Cunz O, Grübel K, Pfeifer K, Rössler W*, Fleischmann PN* (2022) Rotation of skylight polarization during learning walks is necessary to trigger neuronal plasticity in Cataglyphis ants. Proc R Soc B 289: 20212499.
Grob R, Heinig N, Grübel K, Rössler W, Fleischmann PN (2021) Sex-specific and caste-specific brain adaptations related to spatial orientation in Cataglyphis ants. J Comp Neurol 529:18, 3882–3892.
Grob R, el Jundi B, Fleischmann PN (2021) Towards a common terminology for arthropod spatial orientation. Ethol Ecol Evol 33:3, 338–358.
Grob R, Tritscher C, Grübel K, Stigloher C, Groh C, Fleischmann PN, Rössler W (2021) Johnston’s organ and its central projections in Cataglyphis desert ants. J Comp Neurol 529, 2138–2155.
Fleischmann PN, Grob R, Rössler W (2020) Kompass im Kopf - Wie Wüstenameisen lernen heimzukehren (Ant compass – how desert ants learn to navigate). Biol. Unsere Zeit 2/2020:50, 100–109. [popular scientific article].
Fleischmann PN, Grob R, Rössler W (2020) Magnetoreception in Hymenoptera: importance for navigation. Animal Cogn 23:6, 1051-1061.
Grob R, Fleischmann, PN, Rössler W (2019) Learning to navigate – how desert ants calibrate their compass systems. Neuroforum 25, 109-120.
Fleischmann PN*, Grob R*, Müller VL, Wehner R, Rössler W (2018) The geomagnetic field is a compass cue in Cataglyphis ant navigation. Curr Biol 28, 1440–1444.
Grob R*, Fleischmann PN*, Grübel K, Wehner R, Rössler W (2017) The role of celestial compass information in Cataglyphis ants during learning walks and for neuroplasticity in the central complex and mushroom bodies. Front Behav Neurosci 11:226.
Fleischmann PN, Grob R, Wehner R, Rössler W (2017) Species-specific differences in the fine structure of learning walk elements in Cataglyphis ants. J Exp Biol 220, 2426–2435.