Alumni

Group leaders

Dr. Artem Pankin

Previous Institute: Institute for Plant Genetics
Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf

Current Position: Bioinformatics Researcher at Rijk Zwaan
Dr. Stephan Wawra

Previous Institute: Botanical Institute
Cologne Biocenter, University of Cologne

Dr. Hajira Jabeen

Previous Institute: Data Science and Management
Cologne Biocenter, University of Cologne

Current Position:

Senior researcher and Team leader in Big Data Analytics, GESIS

Dr. Piau Siong Tan

Previous Institute: Advanced Imaging Development Platform
Cologne Biocenter, University of Cologne

Dr. Alisandra Denton

Previous Institute: Institute of Plant Biochemistry
Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf

Current Position:

Senior Machine Learning Scientist at Valence Labs, Canada

CEPLAS Postdoc Program

Dr. Juliana Almario
CEPLAS Juliana Almario

Previous Institute: Botanical Institute, Cologne Biocenter, University of Cologne

Current Position: Researcher (permanent position), CNRS, Microbial Ecology, University of Lyon, France
Dr. Christos Bazakos
CEPLAS Christos Bazakos

Previous Institute: Department of Comparative, Development and Genetics
Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research


Current Position: Guest Scientist MPIPZ & Researcher, Institute of Plant Breeding and Genetic Resources- HAO ELGO Demeter, Thessaloniki, Greece
Dr. Andrea Bräutigam
CEPLAS Andrea Bräutigam

Previous Institute: Institute of Plant Biochemistry
Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf

Current Position: Professorship for Computational Biology, University of Bielefeld
Dr. Friederike Brüssow
CEPLAS Friederike Brüssow

Previous Institute: Department of Plant-Microbe Interactions, 
Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research


Dr. Irina Calic

Previous Institute: Institute for Plant Sciences, Cologne Biocenter
University of Cologne

Dr. Balakumaran Chandrasekar

Previous Institute: Botanical Institute, Cologne Biocenter
University of Cologne

Current Position: Assistant Professor, BITS-Pilani, India
Dr. Rachel Denley Bowers

Previous Institute: Institute for Quantitative and Theoretical Biology
Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf

Dr. Paloma Duran

Previous Institute: Department of Plant Microbe Interactions
Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research

Current Position: PostDoctoral Researcher, Lab of Ecological genomics of adaptation in plant communities, CNRS Toulouse, France
Dr. Wilma van Esse
CEPLAS Wilma van Esse

Previous Institute: Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research

Current Position: Assistant Professor at Wageningen University, The Netherlands (five-year VIDI grant)
Dr. Henning Frerigmann
CEPLAS Henning Frerigmann

Previous Institute: Department of Plant Microbe Interactions, Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research

Current Position: Scientific Lead at Chr. Hansen, NRW
Dr. Chihiro Furumizu
CEPLAS Chihiro Furumizu

Previous Institute: Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research

Current Position:

Assistant Professor, Hiroshima University, Japan

Dr. Vera Göhre
CEPLAS Vera Göhre

Previous Institute: Institute of Microbiology
Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf


Current Position: Group leader at the Institute for Microbiology, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf
Dr. Luise Hecker geb. Brand
CEPLAS Luise Brand

Previous Institute: Department of Plant Developmental Biology

Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research


Current Position: Product Owner, Miltenyi Biotec
Dr. Andrew Heidel
CEPLAS Andrew Heidel

Previous Institute: Institute of Population Genetics
Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf

Dr. Nadine Höcker
CEPLAS Nadine Höcker

Previous Institute: Institute of Plant Biochemistry
Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf

Dr. Richard Jacoby
CEPLAS Richard Jacoby

Previous Institute: Botanical Institute, Cologne Biocenter
University of Cologne

Current Position: Research fellow (ARISE), EMBL Heidelberg
Ganga Jeena
CEPLAS Ganga Jeena

Previous Institute: Botanical Institute, Cologne Biocenter
, University of Cologne

Current Position: Scientist at TU Dortmund
Dr. Niklas Udo Jung

Previous Institute: Institute for Plant Cell Biology and Biotechnology
Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf

Dr. Nozomi Kawamoto
CEPLAS Nozomi Kawamoto

Previous Institute: Institute for Developmental Genetics
Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf


Current Position: Postdoc at National Institute for Basic Biology (NIBB), Aichi, Japan
Dr. Ronny Kellner
CEPLAS Ronny Kellner

Previous Institute: Evolution of obligate parasitism and biodiversity
Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research


Current Position: Senior Scientist Product Development, QIAGEN
Dr. Mather Khan

Previous Institute: Institute of Botany
Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf

Current Position: Scientist, Bond Life Sciences Center, University of Missouri, Columbia, USA
Dr. Sakshi Khosa
Foto Sakshi Khosa

Previous Institute: Institute of Biochemistry
Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf 


Current Position:

Postdoc at HHU Düsseldorf

Dr. Christiane Kiefer
CEPLAS Christiane Kiefer

Previous Institute: Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research

Current Position: Research Assistant, Centre for Organismal Studies Heidelberg, Department of Biodiversity and Plant Systematics, Heidelberg University
Dr. Magdalene Kutyniok
CEPLAS Magdalene Kutyniok

Previous Institute: Botanical Institute, Cologne Biocenter, University of Cologne

Current Position: Bruker Daltonik GmbH, Bremen
Dr. Dmitry Lapin

Previous Institute: Department of Plant Microbe Interactions
Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research

Current Position: Assistant professor at Utrecht University (The Netherlands)
Dr. Yuanyuan Li
CEPLAS Yuanyuan Li

Previous Institute: Institute of Plant Molecular and Developmental Biology, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf


Current Position: Lecturer at Shandong Normal University, China
Dr. Anita Loeschcke
CEPLAS Anita Loeschcke

Previous Institute: Institute of Molecular Enzyme Technology
, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf


Current Position: Leader BioSC FocusLab Combicom, Institute of Molecular Enzyme Technology, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf c/o Forschungszentrum Jülich
Dr. Peter Lundquist
CEPLAS Peter Lundquist

Previous Institute: Institute of Plant Biochemistry, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf

Current Position: Assistant Professor at the Michigan State University, USA
Dr. Otho Mantegazza
CEPLAS Otho Mantegazza

Previous Institute: Institute of Plant Biochemistry

Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf


Current Position:

Data Scientist, Milan, Italy

Dr. Anna Matuszyńska
CEPLAS Anna Matuszyńska

Previous Institute: Institute for Quantitative and Theoretical Biology, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf

Current Position: Junior Professor in Computational Life Science, RWTH Aachen University
Dr. Miguel Miñambres Martin

Previous Institute: Institute of Plant Biochemistry
Institute of Synthetic Biology
Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf

Current Position: Application Scientist, Singleron Biotechnologies GmbH
Dr. Ryohei Thomas Nakano
CEPLAS Ryohei Thomas Nakano

Previous Institute: Department of Plant-Microbe Interactions

Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research


Current Position:

Professor at Hokkaido University, Japan

Dr. Helge Pallakies
CEPLAS Helge Pallakies

Previous Institute: Institute of Developmental Genetics, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf

Current Position: Head of Project Management at Amedon GmbH, Lübeck
Dr. Yao Pan
CEPLAS Yao Pan

Previous Institute: Institute of Informatics
Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf

Current Position: Application Specialist, Sysmex-Inostics, Hamburg
Dr. Thomas Perrot

Previous Institute: Institute for Plant Cell Biology and Biotechnology
Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf

Current Position:

Postdoctoral researcher at the University of Tours in France

Dr. Manuela Peukert
CEPLAS Manuela Peukert

Previous Institute: Botanical Institute, Cologne Biocenter, University of Cologne

Current Position: Researcher, Federal Research Institute of Nutrition and Food, Max Rubner-Institut, Kulmbach
Dr. Thea Pick
CEPLAS Thea Pick

Previous Institute: Institute of Plant Biochemistry
Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf

Dr. Sebastian Ploch
CEPLAS Sebastian Ploch

Previous Institute: Institute of Population Genetics
Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf

Current Position: Labmanager, Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Center, Frankfurt am Main
Dr. Adélaïde Raguin

Previous Institute: Institute for Computational Cell Biology, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf

Current Position:

Contributing Investigator, Research Area 4

Dr. Louai Rishmawi
CEPLAS Louai Rishmawi

Previous Institute: Botanical Institute, Cologne Biocenter, University of Cologne

Current Position: Postdoctoral Researcher at Montpellier SupAgro, France
Dr. Roxanne van Rooijen
CEPLAS Roxanne van Rooijen

Previous Institute: Developmental and Molecular Plant Biology, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf

Current Position: Researcher at Kekkilä-BVB, Netherlands
Dr. Hanna Rövenich

Previous Institute: Botanical Institute, Cologne Biocenter

University of Cologne

Current Position: Postdoc UoC
Dr. Melanie Sapp
CEPLAS Melanie Sapp

Previous Institute: Institute of Population Genetics, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf

Current Position: Scientific Coordinator, Institute for Human Genetics, University Hospital Düsseldorf
Dr. Mara Schuler-Bermann
CEPLAS Mara Schuler-Bermann

Previous Institute: Developmental and Molecular Plant Biology
Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf


Current Position: Start-up Advisor-Technology Scout, Saarland University
Dr. Stefanie Schulze
CEPLAS Stefanie Schulze

Previous Institute: Institute of Plant Molecular and Developmental Biology
Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf

Dr. Antonella Succurro
CEPLAS Antonella Succurro

Previous Institute: Botanical Institute, Cologne Biocenter, University of Cologne

Current Position:

CTO and Co-Founder CinSOIL

Dr. Filipa Tomé
CEPLAS Filipa Tomé

Previous Institute: Institute for Plant Genetics, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf c/o Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research


Current Position: Senior Innovation Consultant, PNO Innovation Portugal
Dr. Alice Vayssières
CEPLAS Alice Vayssières

Previous Institute: Molecular Systematics, Botanical Institute, Cologne Biocenter, University of Cologne
c/o
Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research


Current Position: Postdoctoral Researcher at INRAE Versailles-Saclay
Dr. Berkley Walker
CEPLAS Berkley Walker

Previous Institute: von Humboldt Fellow at Institute of Plant Biochemistry
, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf


Current Position: Assistant Professor at Michigan State University
Dr. Leonie Weber

Previous Institute: Institute for Plant Sciences, Cologne Biocenter, University of Cologne

Current Position: Science communicator in the InnoTruck project of the BMBF (Federal Ministry for Education and Research)
Dr. Jinshun Zhong

Previous Institute: Institute for Plant Genetics, HHU
Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research


Current Position: Professor and PI at the South China Agricultural University and Guangdong Laboratory for Lingnan Modern Agriculture

CEPLAS Graduate School

Ziba Ajami-Rashidi
CEPLAS Ziba Ajami-Rashidi

Previous Institute: Institute for Plant Molecular Ecophysiology
Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf

Dr. Kumari Billakurthi
CEPLAS Kumari Billakurthi

Previous Institute: Developmental and Molecular Biology of Plants, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf

Current Position: Researcher at the Department of Plant Sciences, University of Cambridge, UK
Nikolas Ditz
CEPLAS Nikolas Ditz

Previous Institute: Institute of Biochemistry II, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf

Current Position: Researcher, HHU Düsseldorf
Satish Kumar Eeda
CEPLAS Satish Kumar Eeda

Previous Institute: Institute of Developmental Biology, Cologne Biocenter, University of Cologne

Current Position: University of Cambridge
Katharina Eitzen, geb. Lentz
CEPLAS Katharina Lentz

Previous Institute: Institute for Genetics, Cologne Biocenter, Terrestrial Microbiology, University of Cologne

Current Position: Researcher at Bex-Biotec GmbH
Dr. Philipp Fesel
CEPLAS Philipp Fesel

Previous Institute: Botanical Institute, Cologne Biocenter, University of Cologne

Current Position: Product manager Fermentation/Business development
Dr. Rubén Garrido-Oter
CEPLAS Rubén Garrido Oter

Previous Institute: Department of Plant Microbe Interactions
Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research

Current Position: CEPLAS Contributing Investigator, Research Area 2,3,4
Niklas Gawenda

Previous Institute: Institute for Plant Cell Biology and Biotechnology
Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf

Dr. Silke Gerlich
CEPLAS Silke Weckopp

Previous Institute: Botanical Institute, Cologne Biocenter, University of Cologne

Current Position: Postdoctoral researcher at Helmholtz Metadata Collaboration (HMC) | DataPLANT - NFDI4Plants | Forschungszentrum Jülich
Dr. Katharina Gräfe
CEPLAS Katharina Gräfe

Previous Institute: Institute of Biochemistry, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf

Current Position: Senior Project Manager at BIO.NRW
Jennifer Hage-Hülsmann
CEPLAS Jennifer Hage-Hülsmann

Previous Institute: Institute of Molecular Enzyme Technology
Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf

Current Position: Researcher, HHU Düsseldorf
Svenja Hermanns

Previous Institute: Institute for Plant Sciences, Cologne Biocenter
University of Cologne

Dr. Meike Hüdig
CEPLAS Meike Hüdig

Previous Institute: Plant Molecular Physiology and Biotechnology, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf

Current Position: Project Manager, Miltenyi Biotec
Elaine Jaeger
CEPLAS Elaine Jaeger

Previous Institute: Institute for Genetics, Cologne Biocenter, Terrestrial Microbiology
University of Cologne

Current Position: Researcher, University of Cologne
Dr. Panpan Jiang
CEPLAS Panpan Jiang

Previous Institute: Botanical Institute, Cologne Biocenter, University of Cologne

Current Position: Product Support Lead at Bayer CropScience
Dr. Gwendolyn Kirschner
CEPLAS Gwendolyn Kirschner

Previous Institute: Institute for Developmental Genetics, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf

Current Position: Postdoctoral Researcher, Institute of Crop Science and Resource Conservation, Crop Functional Genomics, University Bonn
Sarah Kranz-Finger
CEPLAS Sarah Kranz

Previous Institute: Institute of Biochemistry II

Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf

Current Position: TunaTech GmbH
Dr. Alfredo Mari
CEPLAS Alfredo Mari

Previous Institute: Evolution of obligate parasitism and biodiversity, Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research

Dr. Anna Matuszyńska
CEPLAS Anna Matuszyńska

Previous Institute: Institute for Quantitative and Theoretical Biology, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf

Current Position: Junior Professor in Computational Life Science, RWTH Aachen University
Priyanka Mishra
CEPLAS Priyanka Mishra

Previous Institute: Cologne Biocenter
Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research

Current Position: Postdoctoral Researcher, Umeå Plant Science Centre, Sweden
Shrihari Negi

Previous Institute: CEPLAS Graduate School
Class of 2021

Anny Garces Palacio

Previous Institute: CEPLAS Graduate School
Class of 2021

Dr. Udhaya Ponraj
CEPLAS Udhaya Ponraj

Previous Institute: Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics, Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research

Current Position: post doctorate at Department of Plant Science, University of Cambridge
Ilyse Putz

Previous Institute: Institute for Plant Genetics
Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf

Current Position:

Doctoral Candidate, Research Area 1

Dr. Armin Sadat-Khonsari
CEPLAS Armin Sadat-Khonsari

Previous Institute: Institute for Mathematical Modeling of Biological Systems, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf

Current Position: Postdoctoral Researcher, Department of Molecular Pathology and Translational Genomics, University Hospital Cologne
Dr. Debika Sarkar
CEPLAS Debika Sarkar

Previous Institute: Institute for Genetics, Cologne Biocenter Microbial, Ecological Genetics
University of Cologne

Current Position: Lead data manager and researcher in clinical trials at Fraunhofer institute, Frankfurt am Main
Jan Schulze Hüynck
CEPLAS Jan Schulze Hüynck

Previous Institute: Institute for Genetics, Cologne Biocenter, Terrestrial Microbiology
University of Cologne

Current Position: Project Leader QC, Lonza, Switzerland
Priyamedha Sengupta

Previous Institute: Institute for Plant Sciences, Cologne Biocenter
University of Cologne

Current Position:

Doctoral Researcher, Research Area 2

Anna Sergeeva
CEPLAS Anna Sergeeva

Previous Institute: Institute for Botany
Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf

Current Position: Researcher, HHU Düsseldorf
Dr. Kalpana Shanmugarajah
CEPLAS Kalpana Shanmugarajah

Previous Institute: Institute of Biochemistry
Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf

Current Position: Global Manager Medical Affairs at Klosterfrau Healthcare Group
Dr. Suraj Sharma
CEPLAS Suraj Sharma

Previous Institute: Institute for Quantitative and Theoretical Biology, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf

Current Position: Postdoctoral researcher at UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway
Dr. Elia Stahl
CEPLAS Elia Stahl

Previous Institute: Institute of Plant Molecular Ecophysiology, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf

Current Position:

Researcher, CNRS - University of Bordeaux, France

Tatiana Stead

Previous Institute: Institute of Plant Sciences
Cologne Biocenter
University of Cologne

Current Position:

Doctoral Candidate, Research Area 2

Esther Sundermann
CEPLAS Esther Sundermann

Previous Institute: Computational Cell Biology
Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf

Current Position: Researcher at the German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment
Michael Thielen
CEPLAS Michael Thielen

Previous Institute: Botanical Institute,
 Cologne Biocenter

University of Cologne

Dr. Vicky Tilmes
CEPLAS Vicky Tilmes

Previous Institute: Department of Plant Developmental Biology, Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research

Current Position: Postdoctoral Researcher, Department of Plant Developmental Biology, Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research
Agatha Walla
CEPLAS Agatha Walla

Previous Institute: Department of Plant Developmental Biology
Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research

Current Position:

Postdoctoral Researcher, AG von Korff, HHU Düsseldorf

Dr. Heidi Widmer
CEPLAS Heidi Widmer

Previous Institute: Botanical Institute, Cologne Biocenter, University of Cologne

Current Position: Product Manager, Andermatt Biocontrol AG, Grossdietwil, Switzerland
Dr. Eva Willée
CEPLAS Eva Willée

Previous Institute: Botanical Institute,
 Cologne Biocenter
, University of Cologne

Thomas Wrobel
CEPLAS Thomas Wrobel

Previous Institute: Institute of Plant Biochemistry

Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf

Luciana Zacour del Giúdice

Previous Institute: CEPLAS Graduate School
Class of 2021

Mara Zander

Previous Institute: CEPLAS Graduate School
Class of 2020