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Young Scientist Association - Team

YSA - Organisational Team

Michael Winklehner

President of the Young Scientist Association

PhD Programme Neuroscience

Michael studied Medicine at the Medical University of Vienna and Heidelberg University, graduating on the topic of post-stroke epilepsy and associated clinical predictors. During his studies he accomplished clinical electives abroad in Tübingen, Munich and Zurich.

His main research interests are currently in the field of neuroimmunology, working in the group of Prof. Romana Höftberger at the Division of Neuropathology and Neurochemistry, Department of Neurology. His research projects focus on the neuropathology and pathomechanisms of autoantibody-mediated neurological diseases and the blood-brain barrier, as well as demyelinating CNS disorders and epilepsy.

To support the progress of young scientists and research, his goal is to foster national and international collaborations and open-minded, vivid discussions between young and senior scientists and the public - which is also a main objective of the Online 16th YSA PhD Symposium 2021!

For further information please contact him via email or visit his profile on ResearchGate.

Maria Strobl

Vice-President of the Young Scientist Associaton

PhD Programme Inflammation and Immunity

Maria studied Biotechnology at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences in Vienna and at the University of Eastern Finland. She did her Master's thesis at the St. Anna Children's Cancer Research Institute in Vienna and graduated in 2017.


She is a PhD student in the program “Inflammation and Immunity” in the research group led by Prof. Barbara Bohle. In her project she aims to investigate the immune response to allergen-specific immunotherapy, focussing on the characteristics of induced antibodies. In 2019 she was a visiting researcher at the Paul-Ehrlich-Institute in Germany.


Maria joined the YSA in 2018 and is Vice President since autumn 2019. What she enjoys most about being a member is to collaborate with enthusiastic colleagues and the possibility to turn ideas into action, getting a taste of different fields of responsibility along the way.


If you are further interested in her research, please contact her directly via E-Mail or her LinkedIn profile or visit the website of her working group.

Ramona Rica

Secretary of the Young Scientist Assosciation

PhD Programme Molecular & Cellular Control of Tissue Homeostasis in Health & Disease

During her Bachelor´s studies Ramona studied Biology at the University of Vienna. As a follow-up, she continued her Master´s studies at the same University and conducted her Master´s thesis at the Institute of Cancer Research in Vienna.

In 2018 she started with her PhD and the work in the group of Prof. Wilfried Ellmeier at the Institute of Immunology. Her research focuses on investigating Histone Deacetylases (HDACs) regulate lymphocytes and lymphocyte-mediated immune responses.

If you are further interested in Ramonas research topic contact her directly or visit the home page of the Ellmeier-Lab.

Fabian Placzek

Treasurer of the Young Scientist Association

PhD Programme Medical Physics

Fabian studied Physics at the Leibniz University of Hannover and gained experience in biomedical imaging device and high-power laser development. After an internship at the Audi AG aeroacoustic and -dynamic development department, he is currently working at the Center for Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering at the Medical University of Vienna.

During his doctoral research he is exploring the various applications of multimodal endoscopy for cancer/disease detection at an early stage using diverse imaging technologies. Applications are found in bladder and colon cancer detection or assessment of pituitary gland and adenoma screening.

If you are further interested in his research contact him or visit his LinkedIn website.

 

Lisa Sandner

Associate of the Young Scientist Association

PhD Programme Immunology

Lisa did her Bachelor's and Master's Degree in Molecular Biotechnology at the University of Applied Sciences in Vienna. During that period she completed internships in Norway and Germany.

In 2018, she started her PhD under the supervision of Dr. Nicole Boucheron at the Institute of Immunology at the Medical University of Vienna. Her project deals with the effect of a specific guanine nucleotide exchange factor on follicular helper T- cell formation and function.

Within the YSA Lisa is responsible for the website.

For further information about Lisas research, please contact her or visit the home page of the Ellmeier-Lab.

Anja Britten

Associate of the Young Scientist Association

PhD Programme Medical Physics

Anja studied Sports Medical Engineering and Medical Engineering Science in Koblenz and Lübeck (Germany). During her Master's she completed internships in Germany and California.

After graduating in 2019, she started her PhD at the Center for Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering in the group of Tilman Schmoll. Her PhD project focuses on clinical applications of optical coherence tomography in ophthalmology.

For more information about Anjas research topics, please contact her or visit her profile on LinkedIn.

Philipp Matten

Associate of the Young Scientist Association

PhD Programme Medical Physics

Philipp received his Bachelor's and Master's  degree in Medical Engineering at the Universities of Stuttgart and Tuebingen, Germany. During his studies he gained experience in industry, working on computer vision, medical image processing, machine learning and hardware development for medical devices.

He is currently enrolled in the PhD program at the Center for Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering at the Medical University of Vienna. His research interests are translational applications in ophthalmology and GPU-accelerated medical image and data processing.

Please directly contact him or visit his profile on LinkedIn, if you are further interested in Philipps research topics.
 

 

Johanna Rohrhofer

Associate of the Young Scientist Association

PhD Programme Immunology

Johanna did her Bachelor's Degree in Biology and Master's Degree in Molecular Biology at the University of Vienna. In 2021, she joined the Immunology PhD-program and the YSA.

She works in the Gastrointestinal Immunology working group under the supervision of Eva Untersmayr-Elsenhuber at the Institute of Pathophysiology and Allergy Research. Her group aims to elucidate the crosstalk between these barrier-layers and to evaluate the impact of nutrition in health and disease. Currently, she deals with altered barrier functionality in diseases with fatigue-associated symptoms, such as known from the Long-COVID syndrome.

For more detailed information on the research topics of her working group contact her or visit the website of the Gastrointestinal Immunology working group.

 

Ekaterina Pronizius

Associate of the Young Scientist Association

PhD Programme Psychology/Cognition, Behavior and Neuroscience (University of Vienna)

Ekaterina was born in the small Russian town Chernogolovka. In 2009, she moved to Austria and did her Bachelor's and Master's study at the University of Vienna, Faculty of Psychology, Specialization "Mind and Brain".

Currently, she is pursuing her PhD (funded by Uni:docs scholarship) at the lab of social, cognitive, and affective neuroscience (SCAN) led by Prof. Dr. Claus Lamm. In her recent large interdisciplinary collaborative project, Ekaterina investigated the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental well-being. Her other research interests include among others the psychopathology, neural correlates of empathy, and the cross-cultural variability of psychological traits.

She joined YSA with the goal to promote interdisciplinary research collaborations between different disciplines, such as to connect psychology with medical research. In her free time, she is involved in different "reach out" activities, in which she tries to bring the research closer to the public.

You will find further information about Ekaterinas research on her website or on her Twitter Account. Or directly approach to her via E-Mail.

Melanie Gsöllpointner

Associate of the Young Scientist Association

PhD Programme Endocrinology and Metabolism

Melanie completed her bachelor’s degree in Nutritional Sciences at the University of Vienna. She finished her master’s degree in the same field with a specialization in Molecular Nutrition. During her studies she accomplished an internship in Malawi to implement rural health clubs, improving nutritional standards.

After her graduation, she gained experience in a pharmaceutical company as a quality control technician and returned to the field of nutritional research at the Medical University of Vienna in May 2020. Melanie is enrolled in the PhD Program Endocrinology and Metabolism, working at the Department of Clinical Pharmacology in the research group of Univ.Prof.PD Nadja Haiden, MD.MSc. She is part of the Neonatal Nutrition Team and focuses on complementary feeding in very low birth weight infants.

If you are further interested in Melanies research topics, please contact her directly or visit her LinkedIn profile.