Gerd B. Müller (theoretical biologist)

Gerd B. Müller
Born (1953-04-17)April 17, 1953
Salzburg, Austira
Residence Austria
Fields EvoDevo, evolutionary theory, theoretical biology
Institutions University of Vienna, Konrad Lorenz Institute for Evolution and Cognition Research
Known for Evolutionary novelty, Extended Evolutionary Synthesis

Gerd B. Müller is an Austrian biologist who is professor at the University of Vienna where he heads the Department of Theoretical Biology in the Center for Organismal Systems Biology.[1] His research interests focus on vertebrate limb development, evolutionary novelties, evo-devo theory, and the Extended Evolutionary Synthesis. He is also concerned with the development of 3D based imaging tools in developmental biology.

Biography

Müller received an M.D. in 1979 and a Ph.D. in zoology in 1985, both from the University of Vienna. He has been a sabbatical fellow at the Department of Developmental Biology, Dalhousie University, Canada, (1988) and a visiting scholar at the Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, and received his Habilitation in Anatomy and Embryology in 1989. He is a founding member of the Konrad Lorenz Institute for Evolution and Cognition Research, Klosterneuburg, Austria,[2] of which he has been President since 1997. Müller is on the editorial boards of several scientific journals, including Biological Theory[3] where he serves as an Associate Editor. He is editor-in-chief of the Vienna Series in Theoretical Biology,[4] a book series devoted to theoretical developments in the biosciences, published by MIT Press.

Scientific contribution

Müller has published on developmental imaging, vertebrate limb development, the origins of phenotypic novelty, EvoDevo theory, and evolutionary theory.

With the cell and developmental biologist Stuart Newman, Müller co-edited the book Origination of Organismal Form (MIT Press, 2003). This book on evolutionary developmental biology is a collection of papers on generative mechanisms that were plausibly involved in the origination of disparate body forms during early periods of organismal life. Particular attention is given to epigenetic factors, such as physical determinants and environmental parameters, that may have led to the spontaneous emergence of bodyplans and organ forms during a period when multicellular organisms had relatively plastic morphologies. Natural selection acting on variant genotypes is suggested to have "locked in" these bodyplans.

The conceptual advances obtained in several fields of evolutionary research currently initiate a reform of the standard theory of evolution. Together with Eva Jablonka, Kevin Laland,[5] Alex Mesoudi,[6] Stuart Newman, Massimo Pigliucci, Kim Sterelny, John Odling-Smee,[7] Tobias Uller,[8] as well as Denis Noble and others,[9] Gerd Müller is an advocate of an alternative evolutionary framework, one version of which has been termed the Extended Evolutionary Synthesis (EES).[10][11] In contrast to the Modern Synthesis, the population dynamical model of evolution established in the early twentieth century that had concentrated on the processes of variation and adaptation, the focus of the EES is on the generative properties of evolution, integrating conceptual developments from evolutionary developmental biology, genomics, ecology, and other fields. It differs from the standard theory in its inclusion of the constructive processes in development, the consideration of reciprocal dynamics of causation, and the relinquishment of a predominantly genetic explanation.[11] A range of novel predictions and testable empirical projects result from the EES.[10][11][12]

Publications

Scientific papers

Edited books

Selected articles

External links

References

  1. ↑ Center of Organismal Systems Biology
  2. ↑ Konrad Lorenz Institute for Evolution and Cognition Research
  3. ↑ Journal of Biological Theory
  4. ↑ Vienna Series in Theoretical Biology
  5. ↑ Kevin Laland
  6. ↑ Alex Mesoudi
  7. ↑ John Odling Smee
  8. ↑ Tobias Uller
  9. ↑ The Third Way
  10. 1 2 Massimo Pigliucci and Gerd B. Müller (eds.). Evolution – The Extended Synthesis. MIT Press 2010
  11. 1 2 3 Kevin N. Laland, Tobias Uller, Marcus W. Feldman, Kim Sterelny, Gerd B. Müller, Armin Moczek, Eva Jablonka, John Odling-Smee. The extended evolutionary synthesis: its structure, assumptions and predictions. The Royal Society Publishing. Proceedings B. Published 5 August 2015
  12. ↑ K. Laland, T. Uller, M. Feldman, K. Sterelny, G. B. Müller, A. Moczek, E. Jablonka, J. Odling-Smee, G. A. Wray, H. E. Hoekstra, D. J. Futuyma, R. E. Lenski, T. F. Mackay, D. Schluter, J. E. Strassmann: Does evolutionary theory need a rethink? In: Nature. Band 514, Nummer 7521, Oktober 2014, ISSN 1476-4687, S. 161–164, doi:10.1038/514161a, PMID 25297418.
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