Research interests:

• Evolution of transcription factor and microRNA binding sites
• Probabilistic models of DNA sequence evolution (e.g. Markov models)
• Analysis of next generation sequencing data (e.g. RNAseq, ChIP-seq data)
• Word statistics and motif enrichment analysis
• Host parasite coevolution

Curriculum vitae:

• since 2010: Post Doc at the Institute for Evolution and Biodiversity, Evolutionary Bioinformatics Group, Prof. Erich Bornberg-Bauer; Scientific Coordinator of the DFG-SPP "Host Parasite Coevolution"
• 2008 - 2010: Post Doc at the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics, Berlin, Department of Computational Molecular Biology in the group of Prof. Martin Vingron
• 2008: PhD degree (Dr. rer. nat.) at the Faculty for Mathematics and Computer Science at the Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, Germany
• 2006 - 2008: Research/Teaching Assistant and PhD studies in the group of Prof. Matthias Löwe at the Institute of Mathematical Statistics in Münster
• 2005: Diploma in Mathematics (minor subject: biology) at the Faculty for Mathematics in Münster
• 2000 - 2005: Studies of Mathematics (and Biology) in Münster

Teaching:

• WS 2013/2014: Coordination of the MSc module Computational and statistical sequence analysis; more information
• WS 2012/2013: Contributions to: MSc module Biocomputing, BSc module Modern Methods in Evolutionary Biology, MSc module Molecular phylogeny
• WS 2010/2011: Contributions to: BSc module Modern Methods in Evolutionary Biology, MSc module Molecular phylogeny
• SS 2008: BSc seminar for Prospective teachers (probability theory, together with Prof. Dr. M. Löwe)
• WS 2007/2008: Seminar on Biomathematics (together with Prof. Dr. M. Löwe)
• WS 2006/2007: Tutorials: Probability Theory II
• SS 2006: Tutorials: Probability Theory I
• WS 2004/2005: Tutorials: Stochastics
• WS 2003/2004: Tutorials: Stochastics
• SS 2003: Tutorials: Mathematics for Bio- and Geosciences B
• WS 2002/2003: Tutorials: Higher Mathematics I

Supervision of BSc theses:

• In silico prediction and characterization of microRNA targets in infected Tribolium castaneum larvae (BSc Thesis, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, 2013).
• VennTo: Ein Tool zur Visualisierung von RNAseq Daten (BSc Thesis, Westfälische Hochschule Recklinghausen, 2013)
• Development of a Database for Invertebrate Immune Genes (BSc Thesis, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, 2010).

Organized workshops:

• Workshop on ''The Evolution of the Microsporidian Nosema (with special emphasis on microRNAs)'' for members of the DFG-SPP ''Host Parasite Coevolution'', Münster, 2013
• Bioinformatics Workshop for members of the DFG-SPP ''Host Parasite Coevolution'', Rothenberge, 2010

Publications:

1. Behrens, S., Peuß, R., Milutinovic, B., Eggert, H., Esser, D., Rosenstiel, P., Schulenburg, H., Bornberg-Bauer, E., Kurtz, J.
   Infection routes matter in population-specific responses of the red flour beetle to the entomopathogen Bacillus thuringiensis. BMC Genomics, BMC Genomics, 15:445 doi:10.1186/1471-2164-15-445, 2014.


2. Feldmann, R., Fischer, C., Kodelja, V., Behrens, S., Haas, S., Vingron, M., Timmermann, B., Geikowski, A., Sauer, S.: Genome-wide analysis of LXRα activation reveals new transcriptional networks in human atherosclerotic foam cells. Nucl. Acids Res. doi: 10.1093/nar/gkt034, 2013.


3. Behrens, S., Nicaud, C., Nicodème, P.: An automaton approach for waiting times in DNA evolution. J. Comput. Biol., Vol. 19, Number 5, pp. 550-562, 2012.


4. Falconnet, M., Behrens, S.: Accurate estimations of evolutionary times in the context of strong CpG hypermutability. J. Comput. Biol., Vol. 19, Number 5, pp. 519-531, 2012.


5. Bucsenez, M., Rüping, B., Behrens, S., Twyman, R.M., Noll, G.A., Prüfer, D.: Multiple cis-regulatory elements are involved in the complex regulation of the sieve element-specific MtSEO-F1 promoter from Medicago truncatula. Plant Biology, doi: 10.1111/j.1438-8677.2011.00556.x, 2012.


6. Göke, J., Jung, M., Behrens, S., Chavez, L., O’Keeffe, S., Timmermann, B., Lehrach, H., Adjaye, J., Vingron, M.: Combinatorial Binding in Human and Mouse Embryonic Stem Cells Identifies Conserved Enhancers Active in Early Embryonic Development. PLoS Comput. Biol., vol. 7 (12) pp. e1002304, 2011.


7. Żemojtel, T. Kiełbasa, S.M., Arndt, P.F., Behrens, S., Bourque, G., Vingron, M.: CpG deamination creates transcription factor binding sites with high efficiency. Genome Biol. Evol., doi: 10.1093/gbe/evr107, 2011.


8. Behrens, S., Vingron, M.: Studying the evolution of promoters: a waiting time problem. J. Comput. Biol, Vol. 17, Number 12, pp. 1591-1606, 2010.


9. Behrens, S., Löwe, M.: Moderate deviations for word counts in biological sequences. Journal of Applied Probability, Vol. 46, No. 4, pp. 1020-1037, 2009.


10. Behrens, S., Moderate und große Abweichungen zur statistischen Analyse biologischer Sequenzen. PhD thesis, 2008.


11. Behrens, S., Grenzwertsätze für empirische Funktionen von Partialsummen zur Untersuchung von DNA- und Proteinsequenzen. Diploma thesis, 2005.

Talks and Posters:

• German Conference on Bioinformatics, Göttingen, 2013
  Poster: Transcriptome analysis of the model organism Tribolium castaneum.
• 3rd Symposium of the DFG priority programme "Host parasite coevolution", Blossin, 2013
  Talk: Transcriptome analysis of Tribolium castaneum.
• 2nd Symposium of the DFG priority programme "Host parasite coevolution", Berlin, 2011
  Talk: IIPD - A database for immune proteins in invertebrates.
• 5th International Workshop on Applied Probability, Madrid, 2010
  Invited Talk: Moderate deviations for word counts in biological sequences.
• 20th Annual MASAMB workshop, Warwick, UK, 2010
  Talk: Studying the evolution of promoter sequences: a waiting time problem.
• 6th Annual RECOMB Satellite on Regulatory Genomics, Boston, 2009
  Poster: Studying the evolution of promoter sequences: a waiting time problem.
• SSB Meeting, Laboratoire Statistique & Génome, Université d'Evry, 2009
  Invited Talk: Studying the evolution of promoter sequences: a waiting time problem.
• 33rd Conference on Stochastic Processes and Their Applications, Berlin, 2009
  Poster: Moderate deviations for word counts in biological sequences.

Funding: