I am a cellular physiologist, interested in how animals perceive and encode relevant signals from their environment in a meaningful way to produce specialized behaviors.

My current main focus of research is on marine invertebrates. Invertebrates are the most diverse and numerous group of animals on Earth. An invertebrate is a cold-blooded animal with no backbone. Example of marine invertebrates are corals, sea anemones and Cephalopods.

ERC Grant

In November, 2022, I received an ERC Starter Grant from the European Research Council to study how larvae of the coral Lophelia pertusa perceive their environment. The ERC Grant gives me a unique opportunity to conduct research on this reef-forming deep-sea coral species. Lophelia pertusa is commonly found at relatively shallow depths in the Trondheim Fjord, making it more accessible to research in Norway.

Read more about the ERC Grant in this article in Gemini:

ERC support for coral research (22.11.2022)

Find out more about the van Giesen lab and my research:

van Giesen Lab - Marine Sensory Biology

Marine invertebrates (Research group at NTNU)