People
Lucas Schirmer, MD
Lucas is a physician-scientist whose research focuses on unraveling the cellular and molecular mechanisms that drive acute and chronic neuroinflammation. He holds a W3 Heisenberg Professorship for Translational Neurobiology at Heidelberg University and serves as Division Chief of Neuroimmunology.
Lucas studied medicine in Göttingen, completed his clinical training in neurology in Munich, and pursued postdoctoral research in San Francisco and Cambridge, where he developed a strong interest in combining mechanistic biology with translational medicine. In the lab, model systems are closely integrated with high-resolution studies of human pathology to map molecular pathways underlying progressive neuroinflammation.
A major emphasis is placed on building multimodal data frameworks that combine clinical datasets, imaging, and molecular profiling with genomic risk analyses, enabling investigations that span from single-cell resolution to population-based cohorts. This approach allows his team to investigate how genetic predisposition interacts with tissue- and context-specific disease mechanisms, ultimately aiming to explain individual patterns of disease progression. By bridging clinical and basic science, his work seeks to translate mechanistic insights into biomarkers and targeted therapies that can be applied in real-world patient care.
lucas.schirmer@medma.uni-heidelberg.de
Hans-Werner Rausch, MD
Hans-Werner is an attending physician and Deputy Division Chief of Neuroimmunology with a clinical and research focus on immune-mediated neuromuscular diseases, including myasthenic syndromes, myositis, and neuropathies.
His work centers on inflammatory B cell- and complement-mediated overlap syndromes, as well as shared pathological mechanisms across these conditions.
He has a strong interest in multimodal data integration, combining clinical, neurophysiological, imaging, and molecular datasets to better understand disease mechanisms and improve patient care.
Hans-Werner studied medicine in Heidelberg, completed his clinical training in neurology, and pursued postdoctoral research at the Medical Faculty in Mannheim. He also oversees all on-site activities related to clinical neurophysiology.
hans-werner.rausch@medma.uni-heidelberg.de
Julia Dyckow, DVM
Julia studied veterinary medicine at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich and is currently working toward her qualification in laboratory animal science. As a PhD student in our lab, she focuses on experimental model systems and glial subtype-specific mechanisms during inflammatory demyelination. She has a strong interest in ion channels in the context of neuroglial interactions and applies complex transgenic model systems in combination with high-resolution imaging to dissect glial subtype functions during disease progression under inflammatory and demyelinating conditions.
julia.dyckow@medma.uni-heidelberg.de
Joshua Criss, MD
Josh is a physician-scientist and neurology trainee, who graduated from medical school in Sydney, Australia. In our team, he is involved in data curation and integration of patient-related datasets, with a primary focus on the RedCap data management system. His research interests center on decoding signals from large cohorts of patients with immune-mediated neurological diseases, leveraging collaborations with local, national, and international initiatives such as the CLINNOVA MS registry, the German MS registry, and the Post-COVID registry. By combining clinical expertise with advanced data analytics, he aims to generate insights that inform diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment strategies.
joshua.criss@medma.uni-heidelberg.de
Thorge Dobbertin, MSc
Thorge is a PhD student who earned his MSc in Molecular Biotechnology from Heidelberg University. He previously gained experience in single-cell analysis and immune receptor sequencing, and completed research rotations at Harvard Medical School, the German Cancer Research Center, and the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg. In his thesis, Thorge focuses on spatial omics approaches to study immune cell diversity and how it shapes the tissue microenvironment in inflamed muscle and brain tissue. Through advanced computational analysis, he aims to uncover cellular interactions and pathways that sustain inflammation and drive tissue pathology.
Thorge is a member of the Heidelberg Biosciences International Graduate School (HBIGS) and supported by the DFG GRK 2727 (InCheck - Innate Immune Checkpoints in Cancer and Tissue Damage).
thorge.dobbertin@medma.uni-heidelberg.de
Albert Genrich, MSc, MD student
Albert is a medical student at the Medical Faculty Mannheim and also holds an MSc in Molecular Biotechnology from Heidelberg University. His research focuses on the multimodal assessment and longitudinal monitoring of treatment responses in myasthenia gravis. He aims to identify key immune signatures associated with therapeutic efficacy, with a particular emphasis on long-term immune profiling and the dynamic remodeling of immune cell subsets over time. By integrating clinical, immunological, and molecular data, his work seeks to define biomarkers that can guide personalized treatment strategies.
genrich@stud.uni-heidelberg.de
Celine Geywitz, MSc
Celine is a PhD student in the lab with a primary focus on deciphering neuron-glia interactions and related pathways altered in the context of chronic inflammation, itch, and pain. She studied Biomedical Science at Hasselt University and completed her master’s thesis in the laboratory of Gonçalo Castelo-Branco at the Karolinska Institute, where she gained experience in neuroimmunology and glial biology.
Celine is a member of the Heidelberg Biosciences International Graduate School (HBIGS) and is supported by the DFG Research Unit FOR 2690 (PruSearch – Translational Pruritus Research). In her thesis, she combines advanced molecular and imaging approaches to investigate how inflammatory signals reshape neural circuits involved in functional processing.
celine.geywitz@medma.uni-heidelberg.de
Katrin Kauf
Katrin is our lab administrator and specialized study nurse, working in a hybrid role that bridges clinical research coordination and laboratory operations. She manages tasks related to interventional clinical trials and laboratory workflows, with a strong emphasis on back-office administration and organizational support. Katrin brings extensive experience from both laboratory and clinical settings, having previously worked at the Max Planck Institute of Immunobiology in Freiburg and coordinated clinical activities and patient care at a large dialysis center in Southern Germany. Her expertise ensures seamless integration of clinical and laboratory processes, supporting the efficient execution of complex research projects.
katrin.kauf@medma.uni-heidelberg.de
Anna Kocharyan, MD
Anna is a physician-scientist and combines clinical work with bench work in the lab.
She studied medicine in Heidelberg and has a strong interest in decoding interactions between immune cells and tissue-intrinsic neuromuscular cell types in myositis and inflammatory demyelination. Anna utilizes high-resolution multiplex RNA and protein imaging as well as cutting-edge bioinformatics to uncover cell type-specific drivers of pathology in immune-mediated neurological diseases.
kocharyan@stud.uni-heidelberg.de
Michael Kutza, MD student
Michael is a medical student at the Medical Faculty in Mannheim and has a strong scientific interest in dissecting cell-type specific neuroimmune diversity in inflamed tissue niches in MS and neuroinfectious diseases. To address these questions, Michael utilizes cutting-edge cell-type specific RNA-sequencing techniques in combination with high-performance computing and spatial transcriptomics.
Michael is supported by a medMS Hertie Foundation scholarship.
kutza@stud.uni-heidelberg.de
Natalie Ludwig, MSc
Natalie graduated with a BSc in Biomedicine and Biotechnology from the University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna and earned her MSc in Molecular Mechanisms of Disease from Radboud University Nijmegen. She has a longstanding interest in translational neurobiology and neuroinflammation, and previously completed research internships in the laboratory of Trevor Owens at the University of Southern Denmark and with Roberta Magliozzi at the University of Verona.
As a PhD student, Natalie focuses on decoding immune–glial cell interactions that drive compartmentalized inflammation in progressive neuroinflammatory diseases. She is a member of the School of Translational Medicine at the Medical Faculty Mannheim (STMM) and is supported by the DFG Priority Programme SPP 2395 (Local and Peripheral Drivers of Microglial Diversity and Function). Her work integrates advanced imaging, molecular profiling, and computational approaches to map cellular networks and identify potential therapeutic targets.
natalie.ludwig@medma.uni-heidelberg.de
Kolja Luetjen, MD student
Kolja is a medical student at the Medical Faculty Mannheim. His research focuses on advanced magnetic resonance imaging techniques, including sodium imaging and high-resolution protocols for skeletal muscle, aiming at uncovering tissue-specific pathologies in idiopathic inflammatory myopathies, particularly inclusion body and immune-mediated necrotizing myositis.
He works in close collaboration with the Departments of Clinical Neuroradiology and Computer-Assisted Clinical Medicine to optimize and standardize MR protocols, aiming to facilitate their translation into routine clinical diagnostics.
kolja.luetjen@stud.uni-heidelberg.de
Tomas Noli, MSc
Tomas received his MSc in Molecular and Cellular Biology with a specialization in bioinformatics from Cagliari University. In our group, he focuses on dissecting genomic traits that underlie neuron subtype-specific damage and vulnerability in multiple sclerosis and chronic brain inflammation. His work combines large-scale genomic data analysis with integrative computational approaches to identify molecular pathways and regulatory networks that drive neurodegeneration, with the goal of uncovering potential biomarkers and therapeutic targets.
Tomas is a member of the Heidelberg Biosciences International Graduate School (HBIGS) and supported through the DFG FOR 5705 (NeuroFlame – Defence and demise of inflamed neurons).
tomas.noli@medma.uni-heidelberg.de
Leonardo Poggi, MSc
Leo, a physicist by training, graduated from the University of Duisburg-Essen and previously worked as a data scientist at the Institute for Artificial Intelligence in Medicine (IKIM) at Essen University Hospital. In our team, he is responsible for data curation and integration of patient-related datasets, with a primary focus on the RedCap data management system. His work centers on decoding signals from large patient cohorts with immune-mediated neurological diseases, drawing on collaborations with local, national, and international initiatives such as the CLINNOVA MS registry, the German MS registry, and the Post-COVID registry. He integrates clinical datasets with advanced MR imaging data to build large-scale data hubs for comprehensive signal analysis and also works with proteomic data in multimodal analytical frameworks.
leonardo.poggi@medma.uni-heidelberg.de
Amelie Rabitsch, MD student
Amelie is a medical student of Mannheim Medical Faculty. She is supported by a scholarship of the Hertie Foundation (medMS fellowship program) and focuses on complex computational methods to decode diversity of cell types across the central nervous system. Amelie uses a wide range of computational tools to integrate and eventually deconvolute damage and reactivity signatures driven by inflammatory demyelination.
amelie.rabitsch@stud.uni-heidelberg.de
Patricia Sekol, MD student
Patricia is a medical student at the Medical Faculty Mannheim and is supported by a scholarship from the DFG Research Training Group GRK 2727 (InCheck – Innate Immune Checkpoints in Cancer and Tissue Damage). In her research, she investigates myeloid cell subtypes in inflammatory–demyelinating conditions, with a particular focus on iron metabolism and its impact on immune function. She is especially interested in disentangling spatially restricted patterns of immune pathology in multiple sclerosis and related diseases. By integrating molecular profiling with spatial imaging approaches, Patricia aims to better understand how localized immune networks sustain chronic inflammation and tissue damage.
patricia.sekol@stud.uni-heidelberg.de
Marvin Spreyer
Marvin is our lab manager, overseeing all activities in the wet lab, including ordering, coordination of tissue and cell culture workflows, and management of the molecular genetics unit. He brings extensive experience from both academic research environments and the pharmaceutical industry, having worked across a broad spectrum of laboratory and organizational roles. In addition to ensuring smooth day-to-day operations, he plays a key role in implementing new experimental protocols, maintaining quality control standards, and supporting collaborative projects that span molecular biology, genetics, and translational research.
marvin.spreyer@medma.uni-heidelberg.de
Thomas Thäwel, MD
Thomas is a physician-scientist with a strong passion for coding and bioinformatics. His research combines cell type–specific readouts with spatially resolved molecular approaches to investigate how inflammatory demyelination disrupts neuronal wiring.
By developing and applying in silico workflows, he aims to identify dynamic drivers of pathology along inflammatory and degenerative trajectories in multiple sclerosis and related diseases.
Thomas is supported by the Junior Clinician Scientist Program of the Medical Faculty Mannheim and was previously awarded a medMS fellowship from the Hertie Foundation. Through his work, he strives to bridge computational modeling with experimental and clinical data to uncover mechanisms that can inform targeted therapeutic strategies.
thaewel@stud.uni-heidelberg.de
Tim Trobisch, MD
Tim is a physician-scientist who combines patient care with both dry and wet lab research.
He studied medicine in Mannheim and has a strong interest in uncovering cell type–specific gene expression changes in immune-mediated diseases such as multiple sclerosis. His work focuses on distinct tissue niches and regionally restricted pathologies, aiming to understand how local microenvironments shape disease processes.
Tim is particularly keen on applying state-of-the-art high-performance computing tools to analyze complex multiome datasets, enabling the integration of molecular and clinical information. He was supported by a scholarship from the German Cancer Aid and continues to bridge clinical insight with advanced data-driven research.
tim.trobisch@medma.uni-heidelberg.de
Sven Wischnewski, MD
Sven is a physician-scientist who studied medicine in Mannheim, with a primary research focus on immune-mediated myopathies.
He applies advanced cell type–specific sequencing technologies in combination with high-resolution imaging to identify molecular drivers of muscle and brain pathology. His work also explores overlapping transcriptomic features between multiple sclerosis and infectious diseases of the nervous system, aiming to reveal shared mechanisms of neuroinflammation. By integrating multiomic datasets with spatial and functional analyses, Sven seeks to link molecular patterns to disease phenotypes.
He received the prestigious Myositis Research Award from the German Muscle Society in 2025 and was additionally supported by a scholarship from the Medical Faculty Mannheim.
sven.wischnewski@medma.uni-heidelberg.de
Kübra Yagci, MD student
Kübra is a medical student of Mannheim Medical Faculty. Her research focus is on medical informatics and establishing an electronic case report form database for individuals with immune-mediated CNS diseases that are regularly seen and monitored in our outpatient clinic. Kübra has a strong interest on acquisition and data integration of multimodal clinical and non-clinical data aiming at predicting patient-related risk scores in the context of novel precision medicine treatments.
kuebra.yagci@stud.uni-heidelberg.de
Amel Zulji, MSc
Amel studied molecular biology at the University of Zagreb and is a PhD student in the lab. His work combines wet and dry lab approaches to investigate cell type–specific molecular states in diseases such as multiple sclerosis.
He focuses on identifying genetic and epigenetic drivers of disease by integrating single-cell genomics data across different lesion types and brain regions. This cross-regional perspective aims to uncover molecular programs that shape disease progression and neuronal vulnerability.
Amel is a member of the Heidelberg Biosciences International Graduate School (HBIGS). By applying computational frameworks, he seeks to connect multiomic datasets into models of disease biology.
amel.zulji@medma.uni-heidelberg.de
Alumni
2018-2024 Sophia Schwarz, MD student (to Pediatrics, St. Marienkrankenhaus, Ludwigshafen)
2019-2021 Tatjana Beutel, MD (to Neurology, University Medical Center Ulm)
2019-2023 Mikail Öztürk, MD student (to Neurosurgery, University Medical Center Hamburg)
2019-2024 Hannah Kapell, MD student (to Pediatrics, University Hospital Heidelberg)
2019-2025 Annika Hofmann, MD student (to Anesthesiology, Nuremberg Martha Maria Hospital)
2020-2022 Niklas Grassl, MD (to Platten Lab, German Cancer Research Center, Heidelberg)
2020-2025 Celia Lerma-Martin, PhD (to Horns Lab, Arc Institute, Palo Alto)
2021-2022 Niko Stevens, MD-PhD student (to Quintana Lab, Neuroscience, Harvard University, Boston)
2021-2023 Marten Junge, MD (to Neurology, University Medical Center Münster)
2021 Leonie Thomas, MSc student
2022 Aaleya Talapatra, MSc
2022-2024 Iva Gašparović-Curtini, MD, PhD (to MS center, Neurology, University Medical Center Dresden)
2023-2025 Vanessa Michler, lab technician