Team - Faculty - University of Greifswald

Research Interests

My topic of research is phenotypic and functional biodiversity. With broad integrative comparative and phylogenetic approaches I aim to contribute to the understanding of why life on our planet is so diverse, the drivers of phenotypic and functional change, and how different components of the phenotype (morphology, behaviour and mechanical properties) evolve in concert and affect ecological functions. One focus of research is 'evolutionary biomechanics', i.e. I aim to clarify the evolutionary origins and effects of outstanding physical performance of biological materials, structures and organisms. This is crucial for the understanding of the biological roles of organisms (such as in predator prey interactions) and their change over time. Furthermore, my research helps to identify interesting model systems that can inform technological innovations in a process called 'biomimetics'. Besides, I am interested in the phylogenetics, systematics, biogeography and functional morphology of arthropods, especially arachnids.

since 09/2022	Research Group Leader at the University of Greifswald, Germany. ERC-project SuPerSilk - Melding behavioural ecology and biomaterials research to track the evolution of mechanical super-performance of spider silk composites
since 02/2021	Project Leader at the University of Greifswald, Germany. DFG-project A window into key events of spider evolution: Tracking the phylogenetic history of a phenotypically dynamic clade of spiders - the Austral marronoids
since 02/2021	Honorary Postdoctoral Fellow at Macquarie University, Sydney. PhD supervisor and collaborative research projects
01/2019 – 01/2021	ARC Discovery Early Career Researcher Award Research Fellow at Macquarie University, Australia. DECRA-project Building your future: builder-building coevolution in animal architectures
01/2016 – 12/2018	Macquarie University Research Fellow at Macquarie University, Australia. MQRF-project Tough stickers: How are thread anchors of spiders structurally optimized and ecologically adjusted?
08/2015 – 12/2015	PostDoc at the University of Kiel, Germany. Research on surface effects in biological materials. Lecturing Grundlagen der Zoologie, Praktikum
01/2013 – 06/2013	Scientific Employee at the Zoological Institute, University of Kiel, Germany. Research on arthropod attachment organs
11/2009 – 12/2012	Scientific Student Employee at the Zoological Institute, University of Kiel, Germany. Research on spider attachment organs. Educational assistant
09/2006 – 08/2007	Volunteer (FöJ als Zivildienst-Ersatz) at the Species Conservation Department at the district exchange Treptow-Köpenick, Berlin. Field work and data processing (monitoring of bat, amphibian and reptile populations), practical species conservation measures, processing of applications for keeping internationally protected (WA) species

01/2013 – 08/2015	Dr. rer. nat. at the University of Kiel, Germany, as a Scholar of the German National Merit Foundation, graded Summa cum laude (with distinction). Project title: Comparative functional morphology of attachment devices in Arachnida. Supervisor: Prof. Stanislav Gorb. Referees: Prof. Hinrich Schulenburg (University of Kiel), PD Dirk Brandis (Zoological Museum Kiel), Prof. Rolf Beutel (Friedrich Schiller University Jena)
10/2010 – 02/2013	Master of Science in Biology at the University of Kiel, Germany. Majors: Biodiversity and Evolution; Ecology. Minors: Environmental Management and Conservation; Geography. Master’s Thesis: Phylogenetic analysis of hairy adhesive pads in spiders (Arachnida, Araneae); Supervisor: Prof. Stanislav Gorb
10/2007 – 09/2010	Bachelor of Science in Biology at University of Kiel, Germany

2022 – 2027	ERC Starting Grant (PI)
2021 – 2024	DFG Individual Research Grant (PI)
2020	Company of Biologists Scientific Meeting Grant
2019 – 2021	ARC Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (PI)
2017	Early Career Researcher Outstanding Paper Prize of the Journal of Experimental Biology
2017	Company of Biologists Travel Grant (PI)
2016 – 2018	Macquarie University Research Fellowship (PI)
2016 – 2017	DFG Research Fellowship (PI) [declined in favour of MQRF]
2016	KiNSIS PhD-Award for Nano Life Science of the core network Kiel Nano, Surface and Interface Science
2016	Annual Faculty-Award ‘Best PhD-Thesis’ of the Faculty of Mathematics and Science, University of Kiel
2013 – 2015	PhD Scholarship of the German National Merit Foundation (Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes) (PI)
2015	DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service) Travel Grant (PI)
2014	Biodiversity Award (Förderpreis Biodiversität) of the Academy of Sciences and Literature Mainz
2014	DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service) Travel Grant (PI)
2014	Society of Experimental Biology Student Travel Grant (PI)
2013	Student Grant of the 19th International Congress of Arachnology (PI)
2012	Annual Award of the ‘Förderverein der Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftlichen Fakultät der Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel’
2011	Society of Experimental Biology Student Travel Grant (PI)

Google Scholar

Research Gate

Names underlined were students or postdocs under my supervision.

* equal contribution

Full publication list: zoologie.uni-greifswald.de/struktur/abteilungen/erc-junior-research-group-evolutionary-biomechanics/publications/

Jani M, Promnil S, Heinz P, Liprandi D, Wolff JO (2025) Functional diversity and behavioural use of fibre producing silk glands in the cosmopolitan cellar spider Pholcus phalangioides (Fuesslin, 1775). Journal of Experimental Biology, in press.

Liprandi D, Illing T, Wolff J (2025) EvoNEST, a modular application for comprehensive species-based sampling and data management in comparative biology. PeerJ Computer Science, in press.

Kelly MBJ, Derkarabetian S, McLean DJ, Shofner R, Grismado CJ, Haddad CR, Cassis G, Giribet G, Herberstein ME, Wolff JO (2025) Batesian mimicry converges towards inaccuracy in myrmecomorphic spiders. Systematic Biology syaf037. doi.org/10.1093/sysbio/syaf037

Cardoso P, Pekár S, Birkhofer K, Chuang A, Fukushima CS, Hebets EA, Henaut Y, Hesselberg T, Malumbres‐Olarte J, Michálek O, Michalko R, Scott C, Wolff J, Mammola S (2025) Ecosystem services provided by spiders. Biological Reviews, in press. doi.org/10.1111/brv.70044

Wolff JO (2024) Spider silk tensile performance does not correlate with web use. Evolution, qpae135. doi.org/10.1093/evolut/qpae135

Wolff JO, Ashley LJ, Schmitt C, Heu C, Denkova D, Jani M, Řezáčová V, Blamires SJ, Gorb SN, Garb J, Goodacre SL, Řezáč M (2024) From fibres to adhesives: evolution of spider capture threads from web anchors by radical changes in silk gland function. Journal of the Royal Society Interface 21, 20240123. doi.org/10.1098/rsif.2024.0123

Wolff JO, Rößler DC (2024) Evolution: decoding the adaptation of multi-eyed visual systems. Current Biology 34, R675-R677. doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2024.05.052

Wolff JO, Kennedy SR, Houghton M, Pascoe P, Gajski D, Derkarabetian S, Fraser C, Krehenwinkel H, Renault D (2024) Infrequent long-range dispersal and evolution of a top terrestrial arthropod predator in the sub-Antarctic. American Naturalist 204, 191-199. doi.org/10.1086/730827

Liprandi D*, Ramírez M*, Schlüter S, Baumgart L, Joel A-C, Michalik P, Wolff JO (2024) Hierarchical looping results in extreme extensibility of silk fibre composites produced by Southern house spiders (Kukulcania hibernalis). Journal of the Royal Society Interface Focus 14, 20230071. doi.org/10.1098/rsfs.2023.0071

Gajski D, Wolff JO, Melcher A, Weber S, Prost S, Krehenwinkel H, Kennedy S (2024) Facilitating taxonomy and phylogenetics: An informative and cost-effective protocol integrating long amplicon PCRs and third-generation sequencing. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 192, 107988. doi.org/10.1016/j.ympev.2023.107988

Kelly MJB, Khan K, Wierucka K, Jones BR, Shofner R, Derkarabetian S, Wolff JO (2023) Dynamic evolution of locomotor performance independent of changes in extended phenotype use in spiders. Proceedings of the Royal Society: Biological Sciences 290, 20232035. doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2023.2035

Wolff JO, Wierucka K, Paterno G, Coddington JA, Hormiga G, Kelly MBJ, Herberstein ME, Ramírez MJ (2022) Stabilized morphological evolution of spiders despite mosaic changes in foraging ecology. Systematic Biology 71, 1487–1503. (Journal Cover) doi.org/10.1093/sysbio/syac023

Herberstein ME, McLean DJ, Lowe E, Wolff JO, Khan MK, Smith K, Allen AP, Bulbert M, Buzatto BA, Eldridge MBD, Falster D, Winzer LF, Griffith SC, Madin JS, Narendra A, Westoby M, Whiting MJ, Ian Wright, Carthey A (2022) AnimalTraits: a curated animal database for body mass, metabolic rate and brain size. Scientific Data 9, 265. doi.org/10.1038/s41597-022-01364-9

Pekár S, Wolff JO, Černecká L, Birkhofer K, Mammola S, Lowe EC, Fukushima CS, … , Cardoso P (2021) The World Spider Trait database (WST): a centralised global open repository for curated data on spider traits. Database 2021, baab064. doi.org/10.1093/database/baab064

Wolff JO, Wierucka K, Uhl G, Herberstein ME (2021) Building behaviour does not affect rates of phenotypic evolution in spiders. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 118, e2102693118. doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2102693118

Lowe E*, Wolff JO*, Aceves-Aparicio A, Birkhofer K, Branco VV, Cardoso P, …, and Marie E. Herberstein (2020) Towards establishment of a centralized spider traits database. Journal of Arachnology 48, 103-109. doi.org/10.1636/0161-8202-48.2.103

Wolff JO, Paterno GB, Liprandi D, Ramírez MJ, Bosia F, van der Meijden A, Michalik P, Smith HM, Jones BR, Ravelo AM, Pugno N, Herberstein M (2019) Evolution of aerial spider webs coincided with repeated structural optimization of silk anchorages. Evolution 73, 2122-2134. doi.org/10.1111/evo.13834

Wolff JO, van der Meijden A, Herberstein ME (2017) Distinct spinning patterns gain differentiated loading tolerance of silk thread anchorages in spiders with different ecology. Proceedings of the Royal Society: Biological Sciences 284, 20171124. doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2017.1124

Wolff JO, Wells D, Reid CR, Blamires SJ (2017) Clarity of objectives and working principles enhances the success of biomimetic programs. Bioinspiration & Biomimetics 12, 051001. doi.org/10.1088/1748-3190/aa86ff

Wolff JO, Herberstein MH (2017) Three-dimensional printing spiders: back-and-forth glue application yields silk anchorages with high pull-off resistance under varying loading situations. Journal of The Royal Society Interface 14, 20160783. (Journal Cover) doi.org/10.1098/rsif.2016.0783

Wolff JO, Řezáč M, Krejčí T, Gorb SN (2017) Hunting with sticky tape: functional shift in silk glands of araneophagous ground spiders (Gnaphosidae). Journal of Experimental Biology 220, 2250-2259. (Editor’s Choice) doi.org/10.1242/jeb.154682

Wolff JO, Grawe I, Wirth M, Karstedt A, Gorb SN (2015) Spider’s super-glue: Thread anchors are composite adhesives with synergistic hierarchical organization. Soft Matter 11, 2394. doi.org/10.1039/C4SM02130D

Wolff JO, Gorb SN (2011) The influence of humidity on the attachment ability of the spider Philodromus dispar (Araneae, Philodromidae). Proceedings of the Royal Society: Biological Sciences 279, 139-143. doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2011.0505

Wolff JO, Gorb SN (2016) Attachment structures and adhesive secretions in arachnids. Biologically-inspired systems, Vol. 7. Springer, Cham, Switzerland. 184 pp. doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-45713-0

Wolff JO (2017) Structural effects of glue application in spiders – What can we learn from silk anchors? In: Heepe L, Xue L, Gorb SN (eds.) Bio-inspired structured adhesives. Springer, Cham, Switzerland. pp 63-80. doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-59114-8_5

Wolff JO, García-Hernández S, Gorb SN (2016) Adhesive Secretions in Harvestmen (Arachnida: Opiliones). In: Smith AM (ed.) Biological adhesives, 2nd edition. Springer, Cham, Switzerland. pp. 281-301. doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-46082-6_12

Wolff JO, Schneider J, Gorb SN (2014) How to pass the gap - Functional morphology and biomechanics of spider bridging threads. In: Miller T, Asakura T (eds.) Biotechnology of silk. Springer, Heidelberg. pp. 165-177. doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-7119-2_9

Research Interests

My preferred research topic is computational modelling of soft biological materials. By combining computational physics and the mechanics of elastic soft bodies, I aim to investigate the behaviour of complex composite materials, as spider silk threads and anchorages. One focus of this topic of research is understanding how different natural systems can have different response to external stimuli while using similar "building blocks", e.g. a small set of proteins. This is usually achieved by exploiting different geometries with peculiar degrees of freedom, which allows for a tunability of the physical properties of the system. This tunability is crucial, for example, in the vertical locomotion of the animals. During locomotion, arthropods and reptiles continuously alternate strong adhesion and easy detachment by tuning the angles formed by their pads and toes, or the direction of the applied force. The same principles can be extended to other biological bodies, e.g. human organs, and aid in the development of biomedical devices. Other topics I like to explore are soft tissue mechanics, bone mechanics, artificial and biological adhesive systems, extreme mechanics, molecular dynamics, C/C++/Python developing.

Liprandi D, Illing T, Wolff J (2025) EvoNEST, a modular application for comprehensive species-based sampling and data management in comparative biology. PeerJ Computer Science, in press.

Jani M, Promnil S, Heinz P, Liprandi D, Wolff JO (2025) Functional diversity and behavioural use of fibre producing silk glands in the cosmopolitan cellar spider Pholcus phalangioides (Fuesslin, 1775). Journal of Experimental Biology, in press.

Liprandi D, Ramírez M, Schlüter S, Baumgart L, Joel A-C, Michalik P, Wolff JO (2024) Hierarchical looping results in extreme extensibility of silk fibre composites produced by Southern house spiders (Kukulcania hibernalis). Journal of the Royal Society Interface Focus 14, 20230071. doi.org/10.1098/rsfs.2023.0071

Liprandi D, Misseroni D, Bosia F, Fraldi M, Pugno NM (2022) A 3D Griffith peeling model to unify and generalize single and double peeling theories. Meccanica 57, 1125–1138. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11012-022-01480-1

Wolff JO, Liprandi D, Bosia F, Joel AC, Pugno NM (2021) Robust substrate anchorages of silk lines with extensible nano-fibres. Soft Matter 17, 7903–7913. https://doi.org/10.1039/D1SM00552A

Liprandi D, Bosia F, Pugno NM (2020) A theoretical-numerical model for the peeling of elastic membranes. Journal of the Mechanics and Physics of Solids 136, 103733. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmps.2019.103733

Wolff JO, Paterno GB, Liprandi D, Ramírez MJ, Bosia F, van der Meijden A, Michalik P, Smith HM, Jones BR, Ravelo AM, Pugno N, Herberstein M (2019) Evolution of aerial spider webs coincided with repeated structural optimization of silk anchorages. Evolution 73, 2122–2134. doi.org/10.1111/evo.13834

Brely L, Liprandi D, Bosia F, Pugno NM (2017) Optimal adhesion control via cooperative Hierarchy, grading, geometries and non-linearity of anchorages and adhesive pads. In: Heepe L, Xue L, Gorb SN (eds.) Bio-inspired structured adhesives. Springer, Cham, Switzerland. pp. 81–93. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-59114-8_6

Research Interests

I am interested in animal behavior and ecology. My past research experiences on reptiles, mammals, and arachnids in broad-spectrum have motivated me to appreciate and understand the complex systems of animal phylogeny and ecology. Invertebrates, especially arachnids have fascinated me since my college days. With passion, I strived to pursue my interest, especially in spiders by choosing it as a study model. My current research focuses on studying the biology of spiders and their silk glands. This will be achieved by combining field and behavioral studies in the lab. I aim to establish a detailed understanding of the functioning of spider silk glands through morphological studies and experiments in the lab. This will allow a comprehensive study on silk gland diversification, web architecture, and behavioral applications.

Jani M, Promnil S, Heinz P, Liprandi D, Wolff JO (2025) Functional diversity and behavioural use of fibre producing silk glands in the cosmopolitan cellar spider Pholcus phalangioides (Fuesslin, 1775). Journal of Experimental Biology, in press.

Jani M, Ramírez MJ, Wolff JO (2025) Methods to identify silk gland activation patterns in spider spinning behaviours. Journal of Arachnology, in press.

Wolff JO, Ashley LJ, Schmitt C, Heu C, Denkova D, Jani M, Řezáčová V, Blamires SJ, Gorb SN, Garb J, Goodacre SL, Řezáč M (2024) From fibres to adhesives: evolution of spider capture threads from web anchors by radical changes in silk gland function. Journal of the Royal Society Interface 21, 20240123. doi.org/10.1098/rsif.2024.0123

Jani M, Caleb JT, Kapoor V, Kulkarni S, Uma D (2023) Aliens in the society: foreign arthropods and small vertebrates associated with the social spider Stegodyphus sarasinorum Karsch, 1892 (Araneae: Eresidae). Journal of Arachnology 51, 57–62. https://doi.org/10.1636/JoA-S-22-004

Babu N, Caleb JT, Jani M, Uma D, Prasad G (2022) On the taxonomy and distribution of the orb-weaving spider Philoponella feroka (Bradoo, 1979) n. comb. from India (Araneae, Uloboridae). Zootaxa 5087, 497–500. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5087.3.8

Jani M (2019) Indotyphlops braminus (Brahminy Blind Snake): Diet. Herpetological Review 50, 159–160.

Sharma V, Jani M (2015) Geographical Distribution: Lycodon travancoricus (Travancore wolf-snake). Herpetological Review 46, 574.

Research Interests

I am passionate about polymeric materials, biomaterials, and tissue engineering. My previous research was on the topic of biomimetic meniscus scaffolds from electrospun Poly(lactic acid) / Silk fibroin. I have gained experience in biomaterials, electrospinning process, materials characterization (mechanical properties, thermal properties, morphology, degradation), and in vitro cell culture studies (such as cytotoxicity, cell viability, and histological studies). For my present study, I focus on the mechanical properties of the bundles of spider silk.

Publications

Jani M, Promnil S, Heinz P, Liprandi D, Wolff JO (2025) Functional diversity and behavioural use of fibre producing silk glands in the cosmopolitan cellar spider Pholcus phalangioides (Fuesslin, 1775). Journal of Experimental Biology, in press.

Promnil S, Ruksakulpiwat C, Numpaisal P-o, Ruksakulpiwat Y (2022) Electrospun poly(lactic acid) and silk fibroin based nanofibrous scaffold for meniscus tissue engineering. Polymers 14, 2435. https://doi.org/10.3390/polym14122435

Promnil S, Ruksakulpiwat Y, Ruksakulpiwat C, Numpaisal P-o (2022) Effect of silk fibroin content on physical and mechanical properties of electrospun poly(lactic acid)/silk fibroin nanofibers for meniscus tissue engineering scaffold. Journal of Physics: Conference Series 2175, 012016. https://doi.org/10.1088/1742-6596/2175/1/012016

Promnil S, Numpaisal P-o, Ruksakulpiwat Y (2021) Effect of molecular weight on mechanical properties of electrospun poly(lactic acid) fibers for meniscus tissue engineering scaffold. Materials Today: Proceedings 47, 3496–3499. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2021.03.504

Research Interests

I am broadly interested in the morphology of athropods of all types, especially with regards to the reproductive system, the musculature and the structure of the nervous system. I find the comparative approach particularly interesting and like to work with imaging methods with a focus on 3D reconstruction.

Kreuz J, Michalik P, Wolff JO (2024) Comparative anatomy of the spinneret musculature in cribellate and ecribellate spiders (Araneae). Journal of Morphology 285, e21670. https://doi.org/10.1002/jmor.21670

Kreuz J, Monika JB Eberhard MJB (2022) Asymmetry of the male internal reproductive organs in Mantophasmatodea. BMC Zoology 7, 1-9. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40850-021-00105-6

Winkler L, Eilhardt R, Janicke T (2023) Population density affects sexual selection in an insect model. Functional Ecology 37, 2734-2747. https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2435.14410

Alumni

Dr. Michael Kelly	2023-2025 - Postdoctoral Researcher	Research Topic: Evolutionary history of the marronoid clade of spiders
Vincent Jackel	2024-2025 - Bachelor thesis & Student Research Assistant	Thesis topic: Kinematics of the rapid escape 'bungee'-jump of arboreal sac spiders (Clubionidae)
Paula Heinz	2023-2025 - Bachelor thesis & Student Research Assistant	Thesis topic: Comparative tensile mechanics of ecologically distinct silk threads in Pholcidae
Tom Illing	2024-2025 - Master thesis (guest)	Thesis topic: Numerical study ot the tensile properties of complex spider silk fibre bundles
Ricarda Hill	2025 - Research Intern (Parlamentarisches Patenschafts-Programm)
Milena Zerbe	2023 - Student Research Assistant
Annika Schönfeld	2022/23 - External MSc. Candidate	Thesis topic: 3D-kinematics of web construction in Pholcus phalangioides (Primary supervisor: Anna-Christin Joel, RWTH Aachen)
Dr Kawsar Khan	2020 - Casual Research Assistant	Currently Humboldt Fellow at Freie Universität Berlin: LINK / GoogleScholar
Dr Kaja Wierucka	2019 - Casual Research Assistant	Currently Postdoc at the Leibniz Institute for Primate Research: LINK / GoogleScholar
Braxton Jones	2017/18 - Casual Student Research Assistent	Currently PhD Student at the University of Sydney: LINK / GoogleScholar