Young Scientist Association - Team

Karina did her Bachelor's Degree in Biotechnology and Master's Degree in Biotechnology with a specialization in medical biotechnology at the University of Wroclaw (Poland). During her Master's she completed a research project within the Erasmus program at the Medical University of Vienna.

In 2021, she started her PhD at the Institute of Pathophysiology and Allergy Research at the Medical University of Vienna. She works under the supervision of Professor Enikö Kállay in the Tumor Pathology group. She is studying the anticancer effects of vitamin D and its analogs in different cancer models (ovarian and colorectal cancer).

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.

Nishelle did her Bachelor's degree in Forensic Science at Amity University, Dubai. She pursued her masters in Toxicology at the University of Central Lancashire, England and gained experience in chromatography and spectrometry  devices.  After an internship at the Lancashire Police department of Forensic Toxicology, she is now acquiring a PhD from the Center for Pathophysiology, Immunology and Allergy Research under the supervision of Dr. Prof. Rudolf Valenta.

In her doctoral research, she aims to construct a PreS carrier vaccine for HDM species Blomia Tropicalis for Chinese population and on component resolved diagnosis between various HDM species.

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

Maria graduated in Medicine from Rovira I Virgili University (Spain). During her studies, she was a visiting clinical and research intern at the Kawasaki Medical School (Japan), the University Hospital of Strasbourg (France) and the University Hospital of Helsinki (Finland). 

Currently, she is a PhD Candidate at the Department of Clinical Pharmacology of the Medical University of Vienna and an Early Stage Researcher (ESR) in the Marie Curie Innovative Training Network TIPAT. The goal of her project is to determine host factors that can predict antimicrobial tissue penetration in difficult-to-treat patient populations. She aims to optimise and personalise antimicrobial dosing strategies.

Ines did her Bachelor’s Degree in Chemistry and her Master’s Degree in Biochemistry at the University of Vienna. She joined the YSA in 2022.

During her Master’s thesis she started working at the Institute for Pathophysiology and Allergy Research on a project involving allergen-specific nanobodies, where she then continued to pursue her PhD in the program “Immunology”. Within her project, supervised by Assoc. Prof. Sabine Flicker, she develops allergen-specific nanobodies and investigates their application for treatment of saisonal allergies (i.e. pollen allergy).

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.

Philipp received his Bachelor’s degree from the Universities of Tuebingen and Stuttgart (interuniversity degree), and a Master’s degree from the University of Stuttgart, Germany, both in Medical Engineering, with a focus on Medical Physics. Alongside his academic education, he already gained experience in industry, working on computer vision, medical image processing, machine learning and hardware development for medical devices at Sony and ZEISS.
He is currently enrolled in the PhD program ‘Medical Physics’ at the Center for Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering at the Medical University of Vienna.
His primary research interests are translational applications in ophthalmology with a strong focus on GPU-accelerated medical image and data processing for real-time medical applications and visualization techniques like rendering of medical data for surgical applications.

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.

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 progress here, his goal is to foster collaborations and open-minded, vivid discussions between young and senior scientists and the public.

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

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.

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 gained a PhD from the Center for Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering.

During his doctoral research he explored various applications of multimodal endoscopy for cancer/disease detection at an early stage using diverse imaging technologies – applicable for bladder and colon cancer detection or assessment of pituitary gland and adenoma screening. Currently, he continuous his work as a post-doctoral researcher at the Center for Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering.

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

Nikolina did her Bachelor's degree in Biology at the University Josip Juraj Strossmayer of Osijek and a Master's degree in Experimental biology at the University of Zagreb in Croatia. Before and after graduation she gained additional experience as an Erasmus+ trainee at the Medical University of Vienna and as a BioTechMed LabRotation awardee at the Medical University of Graz.

In 2021., she started her new and exciting position as PhD student under the supervision of Assoc.Prof. Mag. Dr. Arvand Haschemi at the Department of Laboratory Medicine.  The main focus of her research is immunometabolism of human intestinal tissue macrophages with an aim of characterizing different macrophage populations and their metabolic signatures signature in health and disease.

If you are further interested in her research, please contact her directly via E-Mail or her LinkedIn profile.

Jakov received his Bachelor‘s degree from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (Karlsruhe, Germany) and later studied Immunology at the Albert-Ludwigs-University Freiburg (Freiburg, Germany). In July 2021, Jakov received his Master’s degree after studying the modulation of human early B cell development by protein-specific inhibitors in the lab of Prof. Marta Rizzi. 

In August 2022, Jakov started his PhD at the Medical University of Vienna, also in the lab of Prof. Marta Rizzi. Here, he continues to research the effect of protein-specific inhibition during human early B cell development. Further, his research interest involves the interaction of human peripheral B cells with their physiological environment through chemokine receptors and integrins.

Franziska did her Bachelor’s degree in Biology at the Albert-Ludwigs University of Freiburg, Germany and afterwards completed her Master’s degree in Immunology also at the University of Freiburg. For her Master’s thesis, she worked in the lab of Prof. Marta Rizzi on a project focusing on the dysregulation of the B cell compartment in ANCA-associated vasculitis. In August of 2022, she started her PhD also in the group of Prof. Marta Rizzi at the Institute of Immunology at the Medical University of Vienna, where she continues to work on the role of B cells in autoimmune diseases.

Sarah did her Bachelor’s degree in Molecular Biosciences at the University of Salzburg and the Johannes Kepler University Linz and completed her Master’s degree in Biological Chemistry at the University of Vienna. In 2021, she started her Ph.D. at the Department of Plastic, Reconstructive, and Aesthetic Surgery at the Medical University of Vienna under the supervision of Professor Christine Radtke. Within her research, she is trying to elucidate the structural, mechanical, morphological, and chemical properties of spider silk and thereby explain the positive effect of spider silk on Schwann cells, especially for supporting nerve regeneration.

Cristiano finished his Master’s degree in Molecular Biology and Genetics at the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Lisbon, in 2017 (Portugal). During his Bachelor’s in Biology at the University of Coimbra, he participated in a student exchange program for a year in Brazil, at the Federal University of Uberlandia. Since 2014 he has started to work in the cancer research field, as a research fellow, which allowed him to acquire several scientific skills in that topic. In 2021, he joined the Medical University of Vienna as a PhD student at Rudolf Oehler’s lab. His research focuses on the role of cancer-associated fibroblasts in the modulation of the immune responses of colorectal cancer patients with peritoneal metastasis.

Hashim did his undergraduate and graduate studies at Edwards College Peshawar and Quaid-i-Azam University Pakistan in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. He was previously working as a Programme Officer in the blood transfusion division, at the Health Ministry of Pakistan until 2022. In 2023 he joined ‘Center for Cancer Research’, Medical University of Vienna for his Ph.D. studies under the supervision of Professor Michael Grusch in the applied and experimental oncology group. His research focused on the development of underlying mechanmis for immunotherapy in Mesothelioma.

Anna did her Bachelor’s Degree in Biomedical Sciences at the University of Applied Sciences Vienna. For her Master’s Double Degree she studied Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine at the University of Applied Sciences Technikum Vienna and Medical and Experimental Biosciences at the Linköping University, Sweden. In 2020 she started her PhD in the International PhD Program in Translational Oncology (IPPTO) in the group of Dietmar Herndler-Brandstetter at the Center for Cancer Research Vienna. Her PhD project is focused on the development of a humanized mouse model to recapitulate the tumor immune microenvironment and to test novel immunotherapeutic approaches in colorectal cancer.

Ines completed her Bachelor's and Master's Degrees in Molecular Biotechnology at the University of Applied Sciences FH Campus Wien in Vienna. In 2022, she started her PhD in the research group of Dietmar Herndler-Brandstetter at the Center for Cancer Research of the Medical University of Vienna. Her PhD project aims at investigating the intra-tumor heterogeneity of colorectal cancer with a humanized mouse model.

Maria did her Bachelor's degree in Biomedical Sciences at the University of Applied Sciences Vienna and completed afterwards her Master's degree in Molecular Biotechnology also at the University of Applied Sciences Vienna. In 2022 she started her Ph.D. in the bone research group of Prof. Peter Pietschmann, which is located at the Institute of Pathophysiology and Allergy Research at the Medical University of Vienna. Her research is focused on the effect of a bisphosphonate on the turquoise killifish, an established model of accelerated aging.

Katharina did her Bachelor's and Master’s degree in Biomedical Sciences at the University of Applied Sciences Vienna. During her Master’s degree she started to work at the Institute of Pathophysiology and Allergy Research at the Medical University of Vienna where she was focused on the pathophysiology of the placenta.  In 2022, she got the opportunity to start her Ph.D. in the bone research group of Prof. Peter Pietschmann (Institute of Pathophysiology and Allergy Research). Within her research, she is trying to investigate the effect of baricitinib for the treatment of age-related osteoporosis.

Roko received his Bachelor’s of Science degree in Microbiology, Immunology and Genetics at the University of Western Australia. He then earned his Master’s degree in Microbiome Bioinformatics at King’s College London UK. He moved to Vienna to start a PhD project at University of Vienna and Medical University of Vienna, which is a part of the SFB Immunometabolism research network. His project is focused on in silico metabolic modeling and multi-omics integration of various populations of macrophages. The aim for this work would be to detect novel metabolic fluctuations in macrophages using a set of cutting edge computational systems biology techniques.

Clara did her Bachelor's degree in Pharmacy at the University of Vienna and started afterwards with her Master's degree in Drug Discovery and Development at the University of Vienna. In March 2021 she started her master thesis in the nanobody research group of Assoc. Prof. Sabine Flicker, at the Institute of Pathophysiology and Allergy Research at the Medical University of Vienna. Her research is focused on the development and evaluation of birch pollen allergen specific - nanobody trimers.

Vali did her Bachelor's degree in Molecular Biotechnology at the FH Campus Wien and started afterwards with her Master's degree in Molecular Precision Medicine at the Medical University of Vienna. She is working as  student research assistant in the tumor pathology group of Assoc. Prof. Enikö Kallay, at the Institute of Pathophysiology and Allergy Research at the Medical University of Vienna. Her research focuses on the CaSR in colorectal inflammation, as well as intervention of colitis and colitis-associated colorectal cancer.