Maja MielkeUniversity of Antwerp | UA · Department of Biology
Maja Mielke
Master of Science
About
8
Publications
2,877
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87
Citations
Citations since 2017
Introduction
Maja Mielke does research in functional morphology, currently studying the biomechanics of the beak in songbirds.
Additional affiliations
February 2020 - July 2022
July 2017 - April 2018
Position
- Master's Student
Description
- Bone Microstructure in Finite Element Modeling: The Functional Role of Trabeculae in the Femoral Head of Sciurus vulgaris
October 2016 - May 2018
Position
- Master's Student
Description
- Trabecular architecture in the sciuromorph femoral head: allometry and functional adaptation
Education
October 2014 - April 2018
October 2011 - December 2014
Publications
Publications (8)
Background
Sciuromorpha (squirrels and close relatives) are diverse in terms of body size and locomotor behavior. Individual species are specialized to perform climbing, gliding or digging behavior, the latter being the result of multiple independent evolutionary acquisitions. Each lifestyle involves characteristic loading patterns acting on the bo...
In arboreal habitats, animals encounter substrates of varying inclinations. Consequently, the external loads acting on the limb bones during arboreal locomotion are diverse in terms of magnitude and orientation. It is not well understood how limb bones are adapted to a broad range of loading directions and which functional role is adopted by the tr...
Digitization of video recordings often requires the laborious procedure of manually clicking points of interest on individual video frames. Here, we present progressive tracking, a procedure that facilitates manual digitization of markerless videos. In contrast to existing software, it allows the user to follow points of interest with a cursor in t...
Many songbird species rely on seeds as a primary food source and the process of picking up, positioning, cracking, dehusking, and swallowing seeds is one of the most sophisticated tasks of the beak. Still, we lack understanding about how granivorous songbirds move their beak during the different phases of seed processing. In this study, we used mul...
The skull of a woodpecker is hypothesized to serve as a shock absorber that minimizes the harmful deceleration of its brain upon impact into trees1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 and has inspired the engineering of shock-absorbing materials12, 13, 14, 15 and tools, such as helmets.¹⁶ However, this hypothesis remains paradoxical since any absorptio...
The RNA-dependent protein kinase (PKR) has broad antiviral activity inducing translational shutdown of viral and cellular genes and is therefore targeted by various viral proteins to facilitate pathogen propagation. The pleiotropic NS1 protein of influenza A virus acts as silencer of PKR activation and ensures high-level viral replication and virul...
Projects
Project (1)
The goal is to investigate how the cranial system of songbirds generates complex 3D movements during feeding.
Three species with different beak size and bite force will be compared in order to explore how beak morphology affects feeding biomechanics. This will help us under understand the biomechanical basis of the force-velocity trade-off in beak movement.
Intermediate steps will be:
1) Analysis of the kinematics of the beak/cranium during feeding via high speed (X-ray) videography
2) Mechanical testing of cranial muscles and ligaments
3) Generating a multi-body dynamics model of the musculoskeletal system of the songbird cranium
