Alumni
Graduated PhDs
| Dr. Lukas Zeisel (PhD 2025) Lukas joined us in 2019 for his MSc, interned at Bayer, then returned for his PhD in 2020 on selenium-based redox prodrugs (Chem, Pat. 1, Pat. 2, NatComm, JACS, PE, Synthesis*, ACS Cent Sci, Pat. 3, ChemEur, JACS, ACIE*. (Römer MSc prize, Lindau scholar, FCI-Kekule PhD scholar, Otto Bayer fellow, CeNS Publication award), taking an Externship with Andy Myers (Harvard), and collecting his PhD summa cum laude. He now headed to postdoc with Prof. Magauer (Innsbruck) on total synthesis. Congratulations Dr. Lukas! |
|
| Dr. Markus Müller (PhD 2024) Markus joined us for his PhD in 2019, researching photoresponsive TRP channel probes, pushing the conceptual boundaries of optical probe methodology (Boehringer Exploration Grant co-applicant; BaCaTec scholar; Joachim Herz fellow; ACIE; BioRxiv; ACIE; ChemRxiv*), taking in an Externship with Evan Miller (Berkeley), and collecting his PhD summa cum laude. Congratulations Dr. Markus! |
|
| Dr. Benedikt Baumgartner, né Winkler (PhD 2024) Ben joined us in 2019 as a Boehringer-Ingelheim PhD scholar to pioneer one-photon, singlet-manifold (biocompatible) photoswitching in the NIR for photocontrolling biological activity in deep tissues (ChemSci; ChemRxiv; ChemRxiv); and along the way, pioneered high-performance fluorophores (Patent 5). These are the foundation stones for our Photochemistry 2035 program. Ben took his PhD summa cum laude in 2024 and is now a scientist with Carl Zeiss. Congratulations Dr. Ben! |
|
| Dr. Jan Felber (PhD 2023) Jan had joined us in 2018 for his MSc, did a stint at Bayer, and returned for his PhD. Jan developed disulfide-based redox probes as a new chemical space of bioreductive prodrugs (JACS, NatComm, Chem, Pat.1, Pat.2, JACS Au, ACS Cent Sci; Römer MSc prize, Studienstiftung PhD scholar, CeNS Innovation prize, N.a.d.C. 2024). After a PhD Externship with Ben Cravatt at Scripps, Jan took his PhD summa cum laude in 2023 and moved to an R&D position in med chem industry. Congratulations Dr. Jan! |
|
| Dr. Alexander Sailer (PhD 2022) Alex brought the hemithioindigo photoswitch into cells at last. He started his PhD in 2018, developing hemithioindigos to modulate microtubule dynamics and function (CBC 2019, BJOC 2020, ACIE 2021), and TRP reagents (coming in 2023). After a PhD Externship with Dirk Trauner at NYU, Alex took his PhD summa cum laude in 2022, and went back to the Trauner lab to postdoc. Congratulations Dr. Alex! |
|
| Dr. Adrian Müller-Deku (PhD 2022) Adrian built up the organic synthesis in our group. He started his PhD in late 2017, tackling photoswitchable taxanes (NatComm 2020, ACIE 2021) then broadening into membrane lipids (NanoPhot 2022) and methodology (JOC 2022). He also initiated our weekly Synthesis Denksports. He resoundingly demonstrated his OC mastery at his PhD defence in 2022, then took a position in the scientific division of a management consultancy firm. Congratulations Dr. Adi! |
|
| Dr. Li Gao (PhD 2021) Li was the group's first PhD student, starting in 2017 and getting our research off the ground. He tackled photoswitchable tubulin inhibitors (EurJMC 2020, Cell Chem Biol 2021, ACIE 2021, JACS 2022, OBC 2022) and sidelined in topoisomerase inhibitors. He graduated summa cum laude in 2021, winning the GDCh/DPhG PhD Prize in Medicinal Chemistry and the EFMC People's Choice award, and moved to an R&D position at Roche Penzberg. Congratulations Dr. Li! |
|
| Lena Poczka (Dr. med. 2021) Lena did her Dr. med. thesis with us in 2020-2021 on redox biology (NatComm 2022, JACS 2021, Chem 2022; FöFoLe/GRK2338 MD/PhD scholar) before continuing her medical studies. Congratulations Dr. med. Lena! |
|
| Dr. Yvonne Kraus (PhD 2021) Yvonne tackled the biology in our microtubule photopharmaceutical programme (CBC 2019, BJOC 2020, EurJMC 2020, NatComm 2020, Cell Chem Biol 2021, OBC 2022) and took her PhD in 2021. Congratulations Dr. Yvonne! |
OC-F / MSc → PhD within the group
|
MScs, Postdocs and scholars (since 2022)
Dr. Julia Thorn-Seshold, née Ahlfeld joined in 2018 with experience in cell biology and in vivo disease models. She was the senior scientist in charge of biology in the group and led the BMBF GO-Bio NanoCapture project from 2021 (Joachim Herz Fellow; CeNS Investment; JACS; ACS CentSci; Chem; JACS; NatComm; OBC; PLoS One*; ACIE; ACIE; Pat. 1; JACS; JACS; BioRxiv). She finished in 2024 and took up a Guest Professorship at the Dresden Medical Faculty (JTS group webpage here), leading a group in redox biology, inflammation, and chemical biology.
Niklas Kölbl worked with us for a year in 2023-2024 as a shared PhD student with the LMU Department of Chemistry (Viktorija Glembockyte & Philip Tinnefeld), on single molecule imaging and fluorophore photostabilisation. Congrats Nik!
Julia Brandmaier (LMU Prosa scholar) did her MSc with us in 2023-2024 in the synthesis and biochemistry of redox-triggered immunomodulator prodrugs (LMU Central Research Prize for outstanding MSc), then => HiWi'd on imaging agents, then immediately landed a scientist job in pharma industry. Congratulations Julia!
Nynke Vepřek postdoc'd with us in 2022-2023 on photochemically-activated ligations and controlled cellular permeability reagents (paper 50) before joining industry. Congratulations Nynke!
Michaela Colling-Kaltenegger did her MSc with us in 2022-2023 towards photochemically-activated bioorthogonal tetrazine ligation chemistries. Congratulations Michaela!
Ewen Lelias did a post-MSc internship with us in 2022-2023 in biochemistry and cell biology of heterobifunctional photochemical reagents, then started his PhD in Belgium.
Dr. Martin Maier (Merck Innovation Cup winner, 2021) worked with us from 2020-2022. He took over leadership of the CytoSwitch translational research project in 2021, and also ran synthetic chemistry for HDAC inhibitors and redox-active probes (papers 39, 38, 32, 30, 19). He then moved to chemical industry. Congratulations Martin!
Interns and BSc (since 2022)
|
2024 2023 2022 |
Link to the list of Alumni before 2022