Detlev Arendt

Prof. Dr. Detlev Arendt is a group leader and senior Scientist at the Developmental Biology Unit at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory in Heidelberg. He is co-chair of the new Planetary Biology transversal theme and also holds a honorary professorship at the Centre for Organismal Studies at Heidelberg University.

His laboratory has established the marine annelid Platynereis dumerilii as a molecular model for evolutionary, developmental and neurobiological research, with a major interest in the evolution of animals and their nervous systems. He has also studied the evolution of photoreceptor cells and pioneered the new field of cell type evolution and development. Arendt has received two consecutive European Research Council Advanced Grants and is a member of the European Molecular Biology Organization member and of the Academia Europea.