Dr. Englbrecht in her submersible in Lake König, Germany. This device facilitated her research dives. © Claudia Englbrecht

But Claudia was not finished with her studies of bullheads. Since they live throughout Europe, Claudia decided to examine the DNA of bullheads from as many different locations as she could, to see if the history recorded in their genes showed the path they took as they first spread across the continent. Recreating their evolutionary tree could also help reveal the history of the river systems of Europe.

Claudia sequenced DNA from bullheads all over Europe and found that they fell into six groups, each of which had branched off the bullhead family tree at a different time. Using this genetic evidence, she concluded that bullheads entered Central Europe from the Black Sea, and then spread west and north. The fishes' DNA also revealed the effects of the huge glaciers that covered northern Europe during the Pleistocene Epoch. Bullheads from areas that had once been covered by ice showed far less genetic diversity than bullheads from other climates. Claudia concluded that the bullheads now living in these places had all descended from a small group of "pioneers" that resettled there after the glaciers receded.

While deep into her research, Claudia learned that other researchers were studying the same fish, including teams from Belgium, France, and England. "I won the race," she recalls with a rueful smile. "I couldn't back down—I already had 400 animals." But she was weary of the frustrations and competitive nature of academia, and when she completed her Ph.D., she turned her sights toward private industry.

Though her friends were landing good jobs with biotech companies in Munich, Claudia's thoughts were on America. Claudia had stayed in Munich to finish her Ph.D., but she now wanted to live in the U.S. She set herself a time limit of three months—the length of a tourist visa—to find a job; if she didn't, she would go home. Fortunately, while visiting New York she was offered a year-long postdoctoral position at the American Museum of Natural History, so she moved to Manhattan.

Her supervisor while at AMNH, Museum Curator Rob DeSalle, not only does research in molecular evolution and co-directs the Museum's molecular labs, but also serves as a scientific consultant for the Museum's children's magazines, teachers' guides, books, online professional development courses like this one, and the children's website, OLogy. Claudia's responsibilities included sharing Rob's duties as an advisor for these projects.

The shift from research to education brought new challenges as well as new satisfactions. Though Claudia was familiar with the elaborate review process required for scientific publications, she was surprised to find the process of creating publications for children just as rigorous. Every word has to be revised, tested, and rewritten for young readers by an editorial team with experience in children's publications. She can express herself more freely writing for the online genetics course, because she can write essays at an adult level on subjects that especially interest her. "The purpose of the course is to give people a solid, informed basis to talk about issues like cloning, selecting genes, and assessing risk," she says. Although the course focuses on ethical questions, Claudia also draws on her research experience to write about topics such as the tools and techniques used in molecular labs.

It has been a wonderful experience sharing her knowledge with others. "In research, you're always struggling and worrying whether you've read all the latest publications," she says. She marvels at her new role as a teacher, saying "For the first time, you have the feeling that you really know something." Though she considers herself a shy person, Claudia enjoys discussing genetics with nonscientists.

After working at the AMNH, Claudia moved back to Germany in June of 2001 to work in a bioinformatics research institute. She admits that the Museum had a strong impact on her career—the Museum's focus on genomics sparked her interest in working to analyze genome sequences. She points out that "the bulk of sequences generated everyday is only raw data and needs interpretation in order to understand it." Currently she works on the computational interpretation of bacterial DNA, using computer programs to find genes in the raw DNA sequence and to infer their function.