2014 - PhD in evolutionary biology, University of Münster, Germany

2009 - MSc, University of Zagreb, Croat

Marie Sklodowska-Curie Action postdoctoral fellow

My research focuses on how animal groups overcome the problem of increased risk to disease. Living in groups is beneficial, but because of increased contacts among individuals, it also encourages the spread of disease in groups compared to those living solitarily. Social insects, such as ants, bees and termites show remarkable behavioral and physiological disease defenses that they perform collectively against pathogens, to protect the colony (social immunity). However, how do such behaviors evolve? We still lack good models to understand the evolutionary processes governing the emergence of group-level behaviors against pathogens. In my research, I use flower beetles that live in groups but do not form social colonies, and knowledge from the social evolution theory to address factors affecting disease-related behaviors in groups.

Stock M*, Milutinović B*, Hoenigsberger M, Grasse AV, Wiesenhofer F, Kampleitner N, Narasimhan M, Schmitt M, Cremer S (2023). Pathogen evasion of social immunity, Nat Ecol Evol 7, 450–460.

Milutinović B, Stock M, Grasse AV, Naderlinger E, Hilbe C, Cremer S (2020). Social immunity modulates competition between coinfecting pathogens, Ecol Lett, doi: 10.1111/ele.13458., research featured as issue cover image.