J-PoP

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).

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.

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.

Project 4 - Engstler - Würzburg

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

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.

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.

Project 4 - Engstler - Würzburg

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

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.

Project 6 - Fedosov & Gompper - Jülich

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

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.

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

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.

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.

Project 16 - Renkawitz & Sabass - München

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

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).

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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)

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.

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. 

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.

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.

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.

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.

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).

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.

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.

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).

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.

Project 4 - Engstler - Würzburg

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

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.