Deutsch Intern
Physics of Parasitism

J-PoP

Annika Binder

Projekt 8 - Schwarz & Frischknecht - Heidelberg

Annika Binder is a PhD student in the Frischknecht group at the Center for Infectious Disease Research in Heidelberg, investigating microtubule regulation and function in the motile stages of the malaria parasite Plasmodium berghei.

Lucas Brehm

Project 5 - Ersfeld & Weiss - Bayreuth.

Lucas is a PhD student in the research group of Klaus Ersfeld at the University of Bayreuth, studying the influence of cytoskeletal post-translational modifications on the motility of Trypanosoma brucei in microfluidic environments (in collaboration with the research group of Matthias Weiss).

Gubesh Gunaratnam

Project 1 - Aebischer, Jacobs, Jung & Klotz - Berlin & Homburg

Gubesh Gunaratnam is a postdoc, currently looking at the mode of Giardia duodenalis attachment from a biophysical point of view.

Insa Herzog

Project 9 - Gorb & Lehnert-Sobotta - Kiel & Büsum

Insa Herzog is a PhD student and veterinarian studying the host-parasite relationship of marine mammals and arthropods in a collaboration between the Institute for Terrestrial and Aquatic Wildlife Research (Kristina Lehnert-Sobotta) and the Department of Functional Morphology and Biomechanics, University of Kiel (Stanislav N. Gorb).

Asylkhan Rakhymzhan

Project 13 - Hauser & Rausch

Asylkhan is a physicist and postdoc in the Hauser lab at the Charité Universitätsmedizin. Asylkhan studies the mechanics of attachment of the intestinal parasite Giardia muris.

Narges Jamshidi Khameneh

Project 4 - Engstler - Würzburg

Narges is a PhD student funded by the EU-ITN Phymot (Physics of Motility). She is a J-PoP associate.

Jana Jentzsch

Project 5 - Ersfeld & Weiss - Bayreuth

Jana is a PhD student in the lab of Professor Klaus Ersfeld in the Department of Molecular Parasitology at the University of Bayreuth. She's investigating the impact of posttranslational modifications of microtubules in the parasite Trypanosoma brucei.

Andreas Kuhn

Project 7 - Fischer - Würzburg

Andreas has an M.Sc. in Physics, and is now doing agent-based modelling of Trypanosoma brucei collective behaviour in the Julia programming language. He's a PhD student in the group of Sabine Fischer at the Center of Computational and Theoretical Biology of the University of Würzburg.

Leon Lettermann

Project 8 - Schwarz & Frischknecht - Heidelberg

Leon Lettermann is a Ph.D. student in the Schwarz Group at the Institute for Theoretical Physics in Heidelberg. He is working with the Frischknecht Group on detailed modelling of the gliding motility apparatus of malaria sporozoites to explain movement patterns and in particular chirality.

Thomas Müller

Project 4 - Engstler - Würzburg

Thomas is a PhD student and PoP associate, who works on single-particle tracking in trypanosomes

Rashmi Nakate

Project 10 - Grevelding, Häberlein, Mosig & Schacher - Giessen & Jena

Rashmi Ravindra Nakate is a PhD student in the group of  Christopher Grevelding, working on the biomechanics of platyhelminth (mainly schistosome) adhesion, locomotion, and reproduction.

Florian Overberg

Project 6 - Fedosov & Gompper - Jülich

Florian Overberg is a PhD student in the Fedosov Group, working on numerical simulations of trypanosomes in blood flow.

Javier Periz

Project 16 - Renkawitz & Sabass - München

Javier Periz (DPhil in biological physics, Oxon; PhD in parasitology, ICL; BVetMed)  is a postdoc in the group of Markus Meissner at the LMU Chair of Experimental Parasitology in Munich. He is associated with the priority programme, working together with the project Renkawitz/Sabass on the mechanobiology of Toxoplasma gondii dissemination by immune cells.

Carina Praisler

Project 4 - Engstler - Würzburg

Carina is the first PhD student on PoP project 4. She will work on the phyics of trypanosome navigation in the host

Anika Preuss

Project 9 - Gorb & Lehnert-Sobotta - Kiel & Büsum

Anika Preuss is a PhD student in the Gorb group at the Department of Functional Morphology and Biomechanics of the University of Kiel, working on marine mammal parasites with special focus on their physical adaptations for living in such a challenging environment.

Mauricio Ruiz

Project 16 - Renkawitz & Sabass - München

Mauricio is a PhD student in the group of Jörg Renkawitz at the LMU Biomedical Center (BMC) in Munich. He is working on the mechanobiology of Toxoplasma gondii dissemination by immune cells.

Binzhi Wang

Project 16 - Renkawitz & Sabass - München

Bingzhi Wang is working on his master project and thesis since November 2021, Renkawitz Lab.

Hannes Wunderlich

Project 5 - Ersfeld & Weiss - Bayreuth

Hannes Wunderlich is a PhD student at the chair EPI - Physics of Living Matter, University of Bayreuth (Matthias Weiss) working on microfluidics-based analysis of the movement pattern of Trypanosoma in collaboration with the Laboratory of Molecular Parasitology, University of Bayreuth (Klaus Ersfeld).

Johannes Allweier

Project 3 - Bruchhaus & Gutsmann - Hamburg

Johannes is a PhD student working on the adhesion properties of Plasmodium falciparum-infected erythrocytes in a collaboration between the AG Bruchhaus at BNITM and the Biophysics group led by Prof. Dr. Thomas Gutsmann at the Research Center Borstel.

Wjatscheslaw Liublin

Project 12 - Hartmann/Niesner - Berlin

PhD student in physics, making spatially resolved metabolism visible with the (magic of) multi-photon microscopy and NAD(P)H-fluorescence lifetime imaging. Based in the Niesner biophysical analytics group at DRFZ.

Kevin Walz

Project 8 - Frischknecht & Schwarz - Heidelberg

Kevin Walz is a PhD student in the Frischknecht group at the Center for Integrative Infectious Disease Research in Heidelberg. He is investigating the structure and function of major surface proteins and their role in motility of the infectious stage of the malaria parasite Plasmodium berghei.

Fereydoon Taheri

Project 15 - Metzler & Selhuber-Unkel, Potsdam/Heidelberg

Fereydoon is a postdoc in the Selhuber-Unkel group at the Institute of Molecular Systems Engineering and Advanced Materials (IMSEAM) in Heidelberg. He is investigating the dynamics and forces during the first stages of Entamoeba tissue invasion in collaboration with the Metzler lab in Potsdam.

Ruth Leben

Project 12 - Hartmann & Niesner - Berlin.

Ruth is a physics engineer and postdoc in the Niesner and Hartmann groups at the Freie Universität Berlin. She studies the movement of nematodes in the mouse gut using two-photon microscopy and fluorescence lifetime imaging (FLIM) as a method to map the metabolism and monitor mucus viscosity.

Alice Battistella

Project 11 - Guck - Erlangen

Alice Battistella is a postdoc in the Guck lab of Biological Optomechanics at Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light in Erlangen. She works in the field of mechanobiology and investigates the mechanical properties, adhesion, and motility of different cellular systems. She specialises in atomic force microscopy (AFM) and also has experience with other biophysical methods such as Brillouin microscopy, optical diffraction tomography (OTD), and real-time deformability cytometry (RT-DC)

Nishant Baruah

Project 2 - Auth & Dasanna - Jülich

Nishant Baruah is a PhD student in the group of Thorsten Auth, working on the dynamics and spatial deformations involved in the invasion of apicomplexan parasites (primarily Toxoplasma gondii) into host cells through numerical simulations.

 

Jianfei Jiang

Project 16 - Renkawitz & Sabass - München


Jianfei is a PhD student in Prof Benedikt Sabass' group, LMU München, currently working on high-resolution particle tracking velocimetry (PTV) in cell mechanics. 

 

Luise Asmussen

Project 13 - Hauser & Rausch

Luise is an MD student based at the Hauser lab at DRFZ. She is investigating the mechanosensitive properties of macrophages during infection with Giardia muris using 2-photon microscopy and a genetically-encoded calcium sensor.

Juliane Liebeskind

Project 13 - Hauser & Rausch

Juliane is a PhD candidate in the lab of Sebastian Rausch and Anja Hauser. She is trying to unravel the the host-parasite interactions in Giardia muris infections while working at the Freie Universität and German Rheumatism Research Centre in Berlin.

Kevin Bongers

Project 4 - Engstler - Würzburg

Kevin is a PhD student and PoP associate in the Engstler lab at the University of Würzburg. He studies the lipid composition of T. brucei and the development of lifelike artificial membrane systems for diffusion studies.

 

Ricarda Leisering

Project 1 - Aebischer & Klotz- Berlin & Homburg

Ricarda Leisering is a Ph.D. Student in the Aebischer Group at the Robert Koch Insitute in Berlin. She is investigating the physics of adhesion of Giardia duodenalis.

Marinus Thein

Project 5 – Ersfeld & Weiss – Bayreuth.

Marinus is a PhD student in the research group of Klaus Ersfeld at the University of Bayreuth. He investigates the role of post-translational modifications of microtubules on the cytoskeletal architecture and motility of Trypanosoma brucei. (In collaboration with the research group of Matthias Weiss).

Sebastian Reusch

Project 1 - Aebischer, Jacobs, Jung & Klotz - Berlin & Homburg

Sebastian is a cell biologist and PoP associate who uses organoid models and diverse microscopy techniques to study infections.

 

 

Lucas Fortune

Project 14 -  Kollmannsberger - Düsseldorf

Lucas is a PhD student in the group of Philip Kollmannsberger at the Institute of Biomedical Physics at the HHU Düsseldorf. He is working on deep learning-based end-to-end image segmentation to create a virtual three dimensional model from volumetric electron tomography images in order to study the mechanical properties of T. brucei locomotion.

Marta Gekht

Project 10 - Grevelding, Häberlein, Mosig & Schacher - Giessen & Jena

Marta Gekht is a PhD student in the research group of prof. Felix Schacher, working onestablishing mechanosensory hydrogel-based platforms for studying biomechanics of blood and liver flukes (Schistosoma mansoni and Fasciola hepatica, respectively).

Deniz Tasgin

Project 13 - Hauser - Berlin

I am a PhD student in AG Hauser at Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin. In my project, I am characterizing the role of mechanosensing in macrophages for the clearance of G. muris infection.

 

Adamu Musa Muhammed

Project 4 - Engstler - Würzburg

Adamu is a PhD student studying membrane dynamics in trypanosomes at the Engstler lab in the University of Würzburg.

 

 

Erik Kalz

Project  15  - Metzler -  Potsdam

Erik is a PhD student in the Metzler group at the University of Potsdam. He is working on theoretical models to describe the dynamics of Entamoeba tissue invasion, specifically within the emerging framework of odd-diffusive migration, and in collaboration with the experimental Sellhuber-Unkel lab in Heidelberg.