Team
A/Prof. Katerina Douka
Principal Investigator
I am an archaeological scientist interested in the development and application of analytical tools, in particularly chronometric and biomolecular methodologies, to archaeological and palaeoenvironmental investigations.
My work focuses almost exclusively on research questions revolving around topics of human evolution, specifically, hominin dispersals and adaptation to new environments, the interaction of various taxa over the past 300,000 years and the ultimate disappearance of all archaic hominins, such as Neanderthals and Denisovans.
Dr Annette Oertle
Postdoctoral Researcher
I am a zooarchaeologist with hands-on experience in collagen fingerprinting (ZooMS). In October 2022 I started a Marie Curie postdoctoral fellowship (DENI-CESTOR) in which I aim to identifying new human fossils from Papua New Guinea and provide detailed taxonomic, chronological and isotopic information on these remains.
Dr Manasij Pal Chowdhury
Postdoctoral Researche
I am an archeological scientist specialising in paleoproteomics, primarily focusing on the recovery and analysis of proteins from archaeological bones and ceramic remains.
My research involves the use of proteomics to answer a range of archaeological questions, including faunal identification, the exploitation of various natural resources, ancient diet and diseases, and how ancient diet and patterns in resource consumption can be used to study socio-economic stratification and various forms of inequality and social structure in antiquity.
Viktoria Neuhold-Erben
Administrator
I joined the Department of Evolutionary Anthropology in September 2021. I look after all personnel, financial and general matters for the Douka Lab.
- Currently on maternity leave
Dora Kosak
Administrator (maternity cover)
I joined the Department of Evolutionary Anthropology in April 2024. I look after all personnel, financial and general matters for the Douka Lab.
Students
Konstantina Cheshmedzhieva
PhD student
I joined the Douka Lab in October 2023 as a PhD student, after graduating from the University of Padua with a MSc in Molecular Biology and Bioinformatics. My current research focused on the detection of Denisovan presence in Island Southeast Asia and Oceania, through the generation and bioinformatic analyses of ancient DNA from the region.
Lidia Martin
MSc student and Lab Assistant
I joined the Douka lab as a Master student in October 2022. I am responsible for parts of the day-to-day operations of the ZooMS lab, I regularly train visiting students and update our internal database.
Verena Penninger
MSc student
I am an MSc student of the Evolutionary Anthropology master program in Vienna and finished my bachelor’s degrees in biology and ancient history at Karl-Franzens University in Graz. In October 2023 I started to work on my master’s thesis at the Douka Lab on the identification of bone samples from the paleolithic site Tsagaan Agui (Mongolia) with ZooMS collagen fingerprinting.
Past team members
Dr Emese Vegh
Postdoctoral Researcher
I finished my DPhil in Archeological Science at the University of Oxford in 2022 before I joined the Higham lab in Vienna. Until early 2023 I applied my expertise in bone diagenesis and taphonomy, bone histology and broader archaeological science in the Douka lab.
Elisa Prantner
Intern / Research Assistant
I worked at the proteomics lab preparing samples for ZooMS in September 2022.
Arda Duman
Erasmus intern
I visited the Douka lab as an Erasmus intern in summer 2022.
Theresa Bloß
MSc student
I joined the Douka lab as an MSc student in October 2022, and I finished my Master dissertation in June 2023.
Ulysse Masurel
Lab intern
I worked at the Douka lab as a lab intern in the summer 2023.
