Vienna, Vienna, Austria
I’m a senior researcher with over a decade of experience at the intersection of developmental biology, regulatory genomics, and disease modelling. My academic foundation includes a PhD from UCL and a Master’s degree from the University of Vienna, complemented by training in project management and pharmaceutical quality management. Certified in Agile Leadership, I integrate systems thinking and modern project management into science to enable meaningful progress. I'm passionate about mentoring emerging scientists and driving forward ethical, impactful research.
• Conducted advanced research in the Molecular Biotechnology Unit, focusing on cell signaling pathways. • Authored grant proposals for innovative projects in applied life sciences. • Supervised Bachelor and Master students, guiding their research projects and academic development. • Developed a comprehensive PhD curriculum tailored for the applied life sciences program.
Teaching: -Module on Microinjections with examples of the zebrafish model (part of Advanced techniques in Biological Research, Master program Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine) Lecture: Microinjections with examples from the zebrafish model - Definition of microinjection - History of microinjection - Overview of the zebrafish model - The microinjection setup for the zebrafish model - Applications of microinjections - altering the genome (knock-out and knock-in technique) - Applications of microinjections - xenograft models using zebrafish Practical: Xenografts using zebrafish as a model Zebrafish breeding, Microinjections of zebrafish, Image analysis; - Project in Developmental Biology - Classically developmental biology module Visualizing vascularization in zebrafish Literature search with students Alkaline Phosphatase staining (Part of the Bachelor programme Biomedical Engineering)
https://lifetaq.at/ Drug discovery and research has driven progress in medicine during the past century more than any other scientific factor. Large investments into drug discovery have been made and many computer-aided drug candidates have been identified, however success rates during clinical testing are low. Animal experiments bring apart from ethical considerations a plethora of issues, which leads to poor translational impact. To name a few: species and strains have individual responses and show poor cross effectiveness, group size of animal experiments is out of ethical and costs considerations usually kept to a minimum, which doesn’t account for effects in regard statistical outliers and still might lead to safety issues for the diversity of the human population. To overcome all these issues and providing automation and monitoring options of 3D cultures, LifeTaq is the developing a unique automated long term incubation system the Oli-MAT. -Setting up workflows for Gene expression analyis and Proteomics Analysis of 3D culture systems -Setting up Monitoring assays as quality control to be run in the automated tissue culture machine -Writing Reports -Internal and External Communications -Team Management -Project Management -Experimental planning - Brand management (Flyer, Content creation of website, scientific consulting for social media...) - Setting up metabolomics in collaboration with the Joanneum Graz Supervison of Master projects: Master project at Lifetaq GmbH- Master thesis at FH Tulln: Establishment of monitoring and analysis assays in the automated incubator system oli-mat for 3D cell cultures (SS 2024 Student Chantal Unolt) Master project at Lifetaq GmbH- Master thesis at FH Tulln: Establishment of a workflow for proteomic analysis of air – liquid interface cultures (Etablierung eines Workflows für die proteomische Analyse von Air-liquid-interface Kulturen in 3D Modellen) (SS 2024 Student Laura Josefik)
JC Cancer Cell Metabolism and Metabolic Targets in Cancer Therapy WS 2021/22,SS2022, WS2022/23,SS2023, WS2023/24, SS2024 MUW 860.191 This course is am accompaying course and journal club to the TS Cancer Cell Metabolism and Genotoxicity. We are discussing research articles and overviews of emerging topics in cancer cell metabolism and cancer therapy, such as the regulation of the eukaryotic cell cycle in oncogenesis, signaling of metabolic enzymes, and biosynthesis of nucleotides. This Journal Club supports Graduate students and scientist in the design of experimental work and research articles written for basic, preclinical and clinical sciences. Guest lectures in the lecture series: Cancer Cell Metabolism and Genotoxicity (3 ECTS): Zebrafish and microbiota Molecular methods important for elucidating cancer cell metabolism and genotoxicity Molecular methods in lecture discussed: -qPCRs -Microarray Assays -siRNA knockdown Assays -Western blotting -Phosphofructokinase activity assays -Massenspectrometry -TUNEL Assay -ROS detection -FACS sorting Ph.D. program “Malignant Diseases and Clinical Oncology”; 860.125 8605 Malignant Disease
Establishment of an organ on a chip model for arthritis treatment Osteoarthritis (OA) is a very common degenerative musculoskeletal disorder. There are several risk factors such as joint trauma, obesity, gender and genetic predisposition. However, its complexity, together with the inherent lack of regenerative potential of joint tissues, has so far prevented the identification of disease modifying drugs. Clinicians are therefore reliant upon early diagnosis, anti-inflammatory drugs and lifestyle intervention, that can ease the symptoms. Pregenerate GmbH provides a key opportunity for dramatically improving outcomes of this devastating disease by developing an optimal personalized treatment strategy for OA patients. Publications: Exploring Osteoarthritis Dynamics: Patient-Specific Cartilage Samples in an Organ-on-a-Chip Model Markus Pasztorek, Johanna Fischer, Alexander Otahal, Andrea De Luna, Stefan Nehrer, Julie Rosser Methods: - Confocal Microscopy / Evos 7000 microscopy - Optimization of RNA extraction - from organ-on-a-chip samples - qPCR optimization SyBr green and Taqman - Identifying new biomarkers - Cell differentiation stem cells into chondrocytes (equine and human stem cells) - Organ-on-a-chip - Data analysis using GraphPad / Prism - Setting up liquid handler - Setting up ELISA technique - 1 patent pending: Analysis of treatment efficacy Duties: - Quality control - good laboratory praxis - Writing SOPs - Lab maintenance - Conceiving / Organizing projects for new lab members / Bachelor students - Introducing new lab members to basic molecular biology (RNA extraction, qPCRs,...) - Writing grants - Writing proposal for Staatspreis für Ersatz von Tierversuchsmethoden - Writing summaries for science communication in german and english - Meeting with investors - Writing for FDA approval - Giving scientific talks
https://www.pregenerate.net/ Supervison of students: Co - Supervisor of 12 - month work placement: Setting up apoptosis assay, performing cartilage-on -a-chip model, gene expression analysis and scientific presentations (2021/2022 Student: Negar Asadi) Co-Supervisor of Bachelor thesis: Stem cell modeling of osteoarthritis using an organ-on-a-chip approach (2022/2023 Student: Nico Gossy) - Participating in scientific conferences ** Sy-stem Conference - stem cell conference Vienna, March 2022 ** ICRS Conference - 16th ICRS World Congress Berlin, April 2022