Staff

Karsten Cirksena is a postdoctoral fellow and molecular biologist combining mass spectrometry based proteomics and the bioinformatic analysis of various omics data with a focus on infections caused by neurotropic viruses.
Karsten Cirksena studied Biology at the University of Hamburg where he got his Bachelor degree with a study on the regulation of bone remodelling at the Helmholtz Centre hereon. He moved to the Hannover Medical School to study Biomedicine and later joined the group of Prof. Falk Büttner at the Institute of Clinical Biochemistry guided by Prof. Dr Rita Gerardy-Schahn to establish the CRISPR Cas based genetic engineering in stem cells and (glyco) proteomic data analyses. As part of an institute with a main emphasis on glycobiology, he worked on the characterisation of glycosyltransferases in stem cells and their influence on the cells’ secretome and downstream signalling processes, ending up with a Master degree and a PhD as part of the Regenerative Sciences program of the REBIRTH Cluster of Excellence.
Karsten Cirksena joined the group of Prof. Dr. Gisa Gerold at the institute for Biochemistry at the University of Veterinary Medicine in Hanover as a postdoctoral fellow in 2022. As a molecular biologist with a bioinformatic background, Karsten Cirksena brings extensive experiences in the fields of stem cell derived model systems, mass spectrometry based proteomics as well as big data analyses in general. He is currently focused on a better understanding of the common and specific mechanisms of infections caused by various neurotropic viruses, using stem cell derived neurospheres and other cell culture based neural models. In addition, he is responsible for setting up and running the new proteomics lab of the Gerold group, equipped with a new Orbitrap Eclipse mass spectrometer.

Nele Villabruna is a postdoctoral fellow with a special interest in Noroviruses. She studied Biology at the University of Basel, Switzerland, and became interested in Marine Biology during this time. After receiving her Bachelor’s degree in 2013, she continued to study Applied Marine Sciences at the University of Plymouth, UK. For her Master’s thesis, she focused on the giant Emiliana huxleyi virus, which infects Emiliania huxleyi, one of the most abundant algae species. Under the supervision of Prof. Mike Allen, she characterized the viral protein EHV298 and its interactions with various virus and host factors. Working on these fascinating viruses sparked her interest in virology, and after receiving her Master’s degree in 2014, she changed her focus from giant marine viruses to human viruses and worked as a research assistant at the Heidelberg University in Germany. In the arbovirus group, led by Dr. Pierre-Yves Lozach, she studied cell entry of the tick-borne Uukuniemi virus. In 2016, she started her PhD under the supervision of Dr. Miranda de Graaf and Prof. Dr. Marion Koopmans in the Department of Viroscience, Erasmus MC, Rotterdam, the Netherlands. During her PhD trajectory, she investigated noroviruses at the human-animal interface, the role of different hosts in norovirus circulation, and the emergence of novel variants and recombinants. In the group of Prof. Gisa Gerold, she will continue working on Noroviruses at the human-animal interface.

Jule Hupfeld, M.Sc.
now: tbd

Daniel Arturo Jimenez Soto
now: Master student at the National University of Costa Rica and in cooperation with the University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover in the 'Animal Biology and Biomedical Science' program

Dr. Julia Leonardy
now: Research associate at the Institute of Forensic Medicine at the MHH

Belén Carriquí, Ph.D
now: PostDoc at Fraunhofer-Institut für Translationale Medizin und Pharmakologie (ITMP), Göttingen

Dr. Karin Löw
now: tbd

Eve Brown
now: still a medical student at Hannover Medical School, Germany

Heike Kanapin
now: Retired

Franziska Wölfl, MSc, Ph.D. student
now: Junior Consultant Research at New Chapter Executive Search GmbH, Hamburg, Germany

Mohamed Saad, MSc
now: Ph.D. Student at the Institute for Virology at the University Hospital Essen, Germany

Rebecca Möller, Ph.D.
now: PostDoc at Biotech research & innovation research center, University of Copenhagen

Dr. Annasara Lenman
now: Associate professor at the Department of Clinical Microbiology, Umeå University, Sweden

Graham Brogden, Ph.D.
now: Research associate, Cell and Developmental Biology Center (CDBC) of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) at the National Institutes of Health, Maryland, United States

Francisco J. Zapatero Belinchón, Ph.D.
now: PostDoc at Gladstone Institutes, San Francisco, United States

Anne Pfennig, Labormanagerin
now: Research associate at Thiem-Research GmbH in Cottbus

Josephine Schenk, M.Sc.
now: Ph.D student at Hannover medical School, Germany

Jared Kirui, Ph.D.
now: Research associate at Children's Medical Research Institute in Sydney, Australia

Laura Arroyo, Master student

Pia Maria Alberione, Masterstudent
now: Ph.D. student at Barcelona Institute for Global Health, Spain

Janina Brüning, Masters tudent and PhD Student

Vanessa Kienzle, Master student
now: Biorad laboratories, Hannover

Pia Baines (geb. Banse), Medizinstudent
now: Practice in Duisburg

Wiebke Nicolay, Masterstudent
now: Projectleader, Burgwedel Biotech (MSD), Burgwedel

Markus Flosbach, Master Student
now: Ph.D. Student, Technical University, München

Sina Kahl, TA
now: State Criminal Investigation Office, Hannover

Kathrin Welsch, TA
now: Student of Veterinary medicine, Hannover

Kristina Schierhorn, Master student (Rockefeller University, New York, USA)
now: Postdoc at King’s College, London, UK