Germany
I am a human- and molecular biologist working in the field of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma at Saarland University Hospital. For my future career I would like to continue contributing to cancer research, developing new approaches for precision medicine and individualized therapy of cancer patients. I believe that basic research-driven development of novel preventive therapy approaches have a great benefit in future to prevent cancer formation. I have a Bachelor´s degree in Life Science from the TU Kaiserslautern (Germany). For my Master´s I studied Human- and Molecular Biology at the Saarland University (Germany) with a focus on molecular pathology and tumor immunology of hereditary colorectal cancer. Since 2016 I have joined the team of Head and Neck Oncology (PD Dr. Maximilian Linxweiler - Saarland University Hospital) to do my PhD with the focus on the establishment of two murine xenograft metastasis models and the analysis of new potential drugs against HNSCC. Besides to daily wetlab work, I am evaluating my experiments using diverse statistical methods. My responsibilities also include the presentation of research results in scientific articles and at congresses as well as supervising and training of students. I am reliable and conscientious working, being an open-minded person and have a strong passion finding innovative solutions with the overarching goal to improve human health, especially in the field of cancer research. I am always looking for new scientific challenges and social opportunities.
Establishment of murine xenograft models for lymphogenic and haematogenic metastatic spread of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma and the use of potential new therapeutic agents. Tasks included cell culture, proliferation and migration assays, CRISPR-Cas9, NGS, western blot, standard molecular biology techniques, in-vivo mouse handling, small animal in-vivo imaging techniques (µCT, ultrasound, MRI), immunohistochemistry, microscopy.
The role of COX2 for the local immune modulation in MSI-H colorectal cancer (Lynch syndrome). MMR-deficient tumors in Lynch syndrome are an ideal model system for studying tumor immune surveillance and immunoediting. Tasks included immunohistochemistry, sequencing, qPCR and standard molecular biology techniques.
Heidelberg University Hospital, Institute of Pathology, Applied Tumor Biology - PD Dr. Matthias Kloor Identification and classification of the local tumour micromilieu of microsatellite instable colorectal cancers. Performance of mutation and methylation analysis as well as immunohistochemical stainings from formalin-fixed and paraffin embedded tissues, entrechning a new chromogenic based double staining method in the lab. Phenotypical characterization of colorectal cancers of the MSI-H phenotype for their expression of key components of glucose metabolism and comparison of the results with MSS cancers.
Department of Medical Biochemistry and Molecular biology - PD Dr. Markus Greiner Identification of function of the Hsp40-cochaperones in the endoplasmic reticulum ERj3 and ERj6 in cultured cells. Tasks included broad spectrum of biochemical and cell biological lab techniques including Western-blotting, human cell culture, siRNA or plasmid transfection, fluorescence microscopy as well as functional cell biological approaches like cell-migration assays or real-time cell analysis.
Institute of Pathology, Rhabdomyosarcoma/Tumor Immunology - Dr. Katja Simon-Keller, Prof. Dr. Timo Gaiser Tasks included cell culture of human immortalized mammalian cells, RNA-, DNA- and protein extraction of mammalian cells, PCR, qRT-PCR, Western Blot, bacterial transformation and plasmid isolation