PhD Researchers

PhD Thesis
Unfolding the mechanisms of a cell death type induced under glucose starvation.

Supervisors

• Prof. Dr. Guido Reifenberger

• Prof. Dr. Sebastian Wesselborg

Publication

1. mTORC1 regulates cell survival under glucose starvation through 4EBP1/2-mediated translational reprogramming of fatty acid metabolism. Tal Levy, Kai Voeltzke, Laura Hruby, Khawla Alasad, Zuelal Bas, Marteinn Snaebjörnsson, Ran Marciano, Katerina Scharov, Mélanie Planque, Kim Vriens, Stefan Christen, Cornelius M Funk, Christina Hassiepen, Alisa Kahler, Beate Heider, Daniel Picard, Jonathan K M Lim, Anja Stefanski, Katja Bendrin, Andres Vargas-Toscano, Ulf D Kahlert, Kai Stühler, Marc Remke, Moshe Elkabets, Thomas G P Grünewald, Andreas S Reichert, Sarah-Maria Fendt, Almut Schulze, Guido Reifenberger, Barak Rotblat, Gabriel Leprivier. Nat Commun. 2024 May 14;15(1):4083. doi: 10.1038/s41467-024-48386-y. PubMed

PhD Thesis
Physiologische Eigenschaften Na+-abhängiger GABA Transporter 

Supervisors

• Prof. Dr. Christine Rose
• Prof. Dr. Dieter WIllbold

PhD Thesis
Characterization of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease phenotypes in comparison to Long-COVID blood-brain barrier phenotypes using hiPSC-based assays.

Supervisors

• Prof. Dr. Alessandro Prigione
• Jun.-Prof. Dr. Hannes M. Beyer

PhD Thesis
Neural mechanisms of affective processing, reward and cognition in the context of social behaviour.

Supervisors

• Prof. Dr. Tobias Kalenscher

• Prof. Dr. Carsten Korth

PhD Thesis
Ischemia-induced changes of astrocyte and neuron properties

Supervisors

• Prof. Dr. Christine R. Rose

• Prof. Dr. Dieter Willbold

PhD Thesis

Analysis of neuronal networks during postnatal brain development in the murine hippocampus 

Supervisors

• Univ. Prof. Dr. Max Anstötz
• Univ. Prof. Dr. phil nat. Charlotte von Gall

Publications

1. Yassine, Mona, Soha A. Hassan, Simon Sommer, Lea Aylin Yücel, Hanna Bellert, Johanna Hallenberger, Dennis Sohn, Horst-Werner Korf, Charlotte von Gall, and Amira A. H. Ali. 2023. “Radiotherapy of the Hepatocellular Carcinoma in Mice Has a Time-Of-Day-Dependent Impact on the Mouse Hippocampus” Cells12, no. 1: 61. https://doi.org/10.3390/cells12010061
2. Schröder, J. K., Abdel-Hafiz, L., Ali, A. A. H., Cousin, T. C., Hallenberger, J., Rodrigues Almeida, F., Anstötz, M., Lenz, M., Vlachos, A., von Gall, C., & Tundo-Lavalle, F. (2023). Effects of the Light/Dark Phase and Constant Light on Spatial Working Memory and Spine Plasticity in the Mouse Hippocampus. Cells, 12(13), 1758. https://doi.org/10.3390/cells12131758

PhD Thesis
Dissecting the neural pathology of Leigh syndrome using patient-derived brain organoids.

Supervisors

• Prof. Dr. Alessandro Prigione
• Prof. Dr. Matias Zurbriggen

Publications

1. iPSC models of mitochondrial diseases. Sonja Heiduschka, Alessandro Prigione. Neurobiol Dis. 2025 Apr:207:106822. doi: 10.1016/j.nbd.2025.106822. Epub 2025 Jan 31. PubMed
2. Protocol for the generation of cultured cortical brain organoid slices. Laura Petersilie, Karl W Kafitz, Louis A Neu, Sonja Heiduschka, Stephanie Le, Alessandro Prigione, Christine R Rose. STAR Protoc. 2024 Sep 20;5(3):103212.doi: 10.1016/j.xpro.2024.103212. Epub 2024 Aug 10. PubMed
3. Cortical brain organoid slices (cBOS) for the study of human neural cells in minimal networks. Laura Petersilie, Sonja Heiduschka, Joel S E Nelson, Louis A Neu, Stephanie Le, Ruchika Anand, Karl W Kafitz, Alessandro Prigione, Christine R Rose. iScience. 2024 Mar 4;27(4):109415. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2024.109415. eCollection 2024 Apr 19. PubMed

PhD Thesis
Pathophysiologische Konsequenzen und therapeutische Ansätze bei angeborenen Störungen der Coenzym Q10 Biosynthese.

Supervisors

• Prof. Dr. med. Felix Distelmaier
• Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Andreas Reichert

Publications

PhD Thesis
Natural compounds as suppressors of mitochondrial complex I deficiency-associated diseases in mammalian cell models.

Supervisor

• MD, PhD, PD Natascia Ventura

• Prof. Dr. Andreas Reichert

PhD Thesis
Treatment discovery for Leigh syndrome using patient-derived neurons and midbrain organoids 

Supervisors

• Prof. Dr. Alessandro Prigione

• Prof. Dr. Erdem Gültekin Tamgüney

PhD Thesis
Impact of nuclear-generated H2O2 on genomic stability and the differentiation of neural stem/progenitor cells.

Supervisors

• PD Dr. rer. nat. Carsten Berndt
• Prof. Dr. Simone Prömel

Publication

PhD Thesis
Evaluation of relevant factors involved in neurodegeneration, regeneration and demyelination in preclinical models of inflammatory and degenerative CNS disorders using visual system readouts.

Supervisors

• Prof. Dr. Philipp Albrecht
• Prof. Dr. Charlotte von Gall 

Publications

1. Flecainide mediated sodium channel blockade enhances blood brain barrier integrity and promotes neuroprotection in neuroinflammation. Mustafa Sindi, Diana Klees, Vera Dobelmann, Paul Disse, Hanne Weigel, Stefanie Lichtenberg, Rebekka Ricci, Leonie Thewes, Gülsüm Deniz-Köseoglu, Christina Hecker, Thomas Müntefering, Andrea Issberner, Joel Gruchot, Hans-Peter Hartung, Tobias Ruck, Carsten Berndt, Thomas Kurz, Holger Stark, Patrick Küry, Britta Engelhardt, Ruth Lyck, Sven G Meuth, Michael Dietrich, Philipp Albrecht. Sci Rep. 2025 Aug 23;15(1):31032. doi: 10.1038/s41598-025-15430-w. PubMed
2. Positive allosteric modulation of AMPA receptors via PF4778574 leads to reduced demyelination and clinical disability in experimental models of multiple sclerosis. Mustafa Sindi, Michael Dietrich, Diana Klees, Joel Gruchot, Christina Hecker, John Silbereis, Andrea Issberner, Hans-Peter Hartung, Tobias Ruck, Holger Stark, Thomas Kurz, Patrick Küry, Sven G Meuth, Philipp Albrecht. Front Immunol. 2025 Mar 5:16:1532877. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2025.1532877. eCollection 2025. PubMed

PhD Thesis
Neurovascular Unit Characterization and Indentification of Biomarkers in Cerebral Small Vessel Disease.

Supervisors

• Prof. Dr. med. Stefanie Schreiber
• Prof. Dr. Eckhard Lammert

PhD Thesis
The Role of Microglia in FTLD-Tau: From Pathophysiological Mechanisms to Intervention.

Supervisors

• Prof. Dr. Charlotte von Gall
• Prof. Dr. Susanne Nikolaus

PhD Thesis
Hypoxia and sirtuin 1 in neural stem & progenitor cells.

Supervisors

• PD Dr. Carsten Berndt
• Prof. Dr. Andreas Reichert

PhD Thesis
Ionenhomöostase in Dendriten und Spines von Neuronen im murinen Hippocampus unter physiologischen und pathophysiologischen Bedingungen.

Supervisors

• Prof. Dr. Christine R. Rose
• Prof. Christoph Fahlke

Publications

PhD Thesis
Molecular mechanisms of neuroimmunological interactions in schizophrenia vs. Rheumatoid arthritis

Supervisors

• Prof. Dr. med. Carsten Korth
• Prof. Dr. Martin Beye

PhD Thesis
Brain organoids for modelling Leigh syndrome caused by complex I mutations.

Supervisor

• Prof. Dr. Alessandro Prigione

Publications

1. Mutant huntingtin impairs neurodevelopment in human brain organoids through CHCHD2-mediated neurometabolic failure. Pawel Lisowski, Selene Lickfett, Agnieszka Rybak-Wolf, Carmen Menacho, Stephanie Le, Tancredi Massimo Pentimalli, Sofia Notopoulou, Werner Dykstra, Daniel Oehler, Sandra López-Calcerrada, Barbara Mlody, Maximilian Otto, Haijia Wu, Yasmin Richter, Philipp Roth, Ruchika Anand, Linda A M Kulka, David Meierhofer, Petar Glazar, Ivano Legnini, Narasimha Swamy Telugu, Tobias Hahn, Nancy Neuendorf, Duncan C Miller, Annett Böddrich, Amin Polzin, Ertan Mayatepek, Sebastian Diecke, Heidi Olzscha, Janine Kirstein, Cristina Ugalde, Spyros Petrakis, Sidney Cambridge, Nikolaus Rajewsky, Ralf Kühn, Erich E Wanker, Josef Priller, Jakob J Metzger, Alessandro Prigione. Nat Commun. 2024 Aug 22;15(1):7027. doi: 10.1038/s41467-024-51216-w. PubMed
2. Protocol for the generation of cultured cortical brain organoid slices. Laura Petersilie, Karl W Kafitz, Louis A Neu, Sonja Heiduschka, Stephanie Le, Alessandro Prigione, Christine R Rose. STAR Protoc. 2024 Sep 20;5(3):103212.doi: 10.1016/j.xpro.2024.103212. Epub 2024 Aug 10. PubMed
3. Balancing neuronal activity to fight neurodevelopmental disorders. Stephanie Le, Carmen Menacho, Alessandro Prigione. Trends Neurosci. 2024 Apr;47(4):241-242. doi: 10.1016/j.tins.2024.03.002. Epub 2024 Mar 22. PubMed
4. Cortical brain organoid slices (cBOS) for the study of human neural cells in minimal networks. Laura Petersilie, Sonja Heiduschka, Joel S E Nelson, Louis A Neu, Stephanie Le, Ruchika Anand, Karl W Kafitz, Alessandro Prigione, Christine R Rose. iScience. 2024 Mar 4;27(4):109415. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2024.109415. eCollection 2024 Apr 19. PubMed
5. Activated microglia and neuroinflammation as a pathogenic mechanism in Leigh syndrome. Nastaran Daneshgar, Mariah R Leidinger, Stephanie Le, Marco Hefti, Alessandro Prigione, Dao-Fu Dai. Front Neurosci. 2023 Jan 18;16:1068498. doi: 10.3389/fnins.2022.1068498. eCollection 2022. PubMed

PhD Thesis
Establishment of a glioblastoma model in Drosophila melanogaster as a tool for functional genomics screening

Supervisors

• Prof. Dr. Guido Reifenberger
• Prof. Dr. Thomas Klein

Publication

1. The EIF4EBP1 gene encoding 4EBP1 is transcriptionally upregulated by MYC and linked to shorter survival in medulloblastoma. Laura Hruby, Katerina Schaal, Alberto Delaidelli, Daniel Picard, Christopher Dunham, Oksana Lewandowska, Tobias Reiff, Magalie Larcher, Celio Pouponnot, Poul Hb Sorensen, Barak Rotblat, Guido Reifenberger, Marc Remke, Gabriel Leprivier. Cell Death Discov. 2025 Jul 16;11(1):330. doi: 10.1038/s41420-025-02601-x. PubMed

PhD Thesis
Genetic knock-down screenings in human iPSC-derived neurons.

Supervisor

• Prof. Dr. Alessandro Prigione
• Dr. Sidney Cambridge

Publications

1. Neuronal branching in stem cell models of mitochondrial and neurological diseases. Selene Lickfett, Carmen Menacho, Sidney Cambridge, Alessandro Prigione. Stem Cells. 2025 Oct 16;43(11):sxaf050. doi: 10.1093/stmcls/sxaf050.PubMed
2. Mutant huntingtin impairs neurodevelopment in human brain organoids through CHCHD2-mediated neurometabolic failure. Pawel Lisowski, Selene Lickfett, Agnieszka Rybak-Wolf, Carmen Menacho, Stephanie Le, Tancredi Massimo Pentimalli, Sofia Notopoulou, Werner Dykstra, Daniel Oehler, Sandra López-Calcerrada, Barbara Mlody, Maximilian Otto, Haijia Wu, Yasmin Richter, Philipp Roth, Ruchika Anand, Linda A M Kulka, David Meierhofer, Petar Glazar, Ivano Legnini, Narasimha Swamy Telugu, Tobias Hahn, Nancy Neuendorf, Duncan C Miller, Annett Böddrich, Amin Polzin, Ertan Mayatepek, Sebastian Diecke, Heidi Olzscha, Janine Kirstein, Cristina Ugalde, Spyros Petrakis, Sidney Cambridge, Nikolaus Rajewsky, Ralf Kühn, Erich E Wanker, Josef Priller, Jakob J Metzger, Alessandro Prigione. Nat Commun. 2024 Aug 22;15(1):7027. doi: 10.1038/s41467-024-51216-w. PubMed
3. High-content analysis of neuronal morphology in human iPSC-derived neurons. Selene Lickfett, Carmen Menacho, Annika Zink, Narasimha Swamy Telugu, Mathias Beller, Sebastian Diecke, Sidney Cambridge, Alessandro Prigione. STAR Protoc. 2022 Aug 6;3(3):101567. doi: 10.1016/j.xpro.2022.101567. eCollection 2022 Sep 16. PubMed
4. A call for consensus guidelines on monitoring the integrity of nuclear and mitochondrial genomes in human pluripotent stem cells. Andrea Rossi, Selene Lickfett, Soraia Martins, Alessandro Prigione. Stem Cell Reports. 2022 Apr 12;17(4):707-710.doi: 10.1016/j.stemcr.2022.01.019. Epub 2022 Mar 3. PubMed

PhD Thesis
Unraveling glucose starvation-induced cell death: from the impact on ion homeostasis to the pathological relevance. 

Supervisors

• Prof. Dr. Guido Reifenberger

• Prof. Dr. Christine Rose

Publications

PhD Thesis
Revealing the pathological mechanism of neural impairment of Leigh syndrome using engineered patient-derived neural cells.

Supervisor

• Prof. Dr. Alessandro Prigione

Publications

1. Neuronal branching in stem cell models of mitochondrial and neurological diseases. Selene Lickfett, Carmen Menacho, Sidney Cambridge, Alessandro Prigione. Stem Cells. 2025 Jul 16:sxaf050. doi: 10.1093/stmcls/sxaf050. Online ahead of print. PubMed
2. Mutant huntingtin impairs neurodevelopment in human brain organoids through CHCHD2-mediated neurometabolic failure. Pawel Lisowski, Selene Lickfett, Agnieszka Rybak-Wolf, Carmen Menacho, Stephanie Le, Tancredi Massimo Pentimalli, Sofia Notopoulou, Werner Dykstra, Daniel Oehler, Sandra López-Calcerrada, Barbara Mlody, Maximilian Otto, Haijia Wu, Yasmin Richter, Philipp Roth, Ruchika Anand, Linda A M Kulka, David Meierhofer, Petar Glazar, Ivano Legnini, Narasimha Swamy Telugu, Tobias Hahn, Nancy Neuendorf, Duncan C Miller, Annett Böddrich, Amin Polzin, Ertan Mayatepek, Sebastian Diecke, Heidi Olzscha, Janine Kirstein, Cristina Ugalde, Spyros Petrakis, Sidney Cambridge, Nikolaus Rajewsky, Ralf Kühn, Erich E Wanker, Josef Priller, Jakob J Metzger, Alessandro Prigione. Nat Commun. 2024 Aug 22;15(1):7027. doi: 10.1038/s41467-024-51216-w. PubMed
3. Balancing neuronal activity to fight neurodevelopmental disorders. Stephanie Le, Carmen Menacho, Alessandro Prigione. Trends Neurosci. 2024 Apr;47(4):241-242. doi: 10.1016/j.tins.2024.03.002. Epub 2024 Mar 22. PubMed
4. High-content analysis of neuronal morphology in human iPSC-derived neurons. Selene Lickfett, Carmen Menacho, Annika Zink, Narasimha Swamy Telugu, Mathias Beller, Sebastian Diecke, Sidney Cambridge, Alessandro Prigione. STAR Protoc. 2022 Aug 6;3(3):101567. doi: 10.1016/j.xpro.2022.101567. eCollection 2022 Sep 16. PubMed
5. Generation of Human Brain Organoids for Mitochondrial Disease Modeling. Le S, Petersilie L, Inak G, Menacho-Pando C, Kafitz KW, Rybak-Wolf A, Rajewsky N, Rose CR, Prigione A. J Vis Exp. 2021 Jun 21;(172). doi: 10.3791/62756. PubMed

PhD Thesis
Expression of genetically encoded biosensors for the functional characterization of murine and human brain tissue

Supervisors

• Prof. Dr. Christine R. Rose

Co-Supervisor

• Prof. Dr. Alessandro Prigione

Publications

1. Deep-Learning-Based Segmentation of Cells and Analysis (DL-SCAN). Alok Bhattarai, Jan Meyer, Laura Petersilie, Syed I Shah, Louis A Neu, Christine R Rose, Ghanim Ullah. Biomolecules. 2024 Oct 23;14(11):1348. doi: 10.3390/biom14111348. PubMed
2. Protocol for the generation of cultured cortical brain organoid slices. Laura Petersilie, Karl W Kafitz, Louis A Neu, Sonja Heiduschka, Stephanie Le, Alessandro Prigione, Christine R Rose. STAR Protoc. 2024 Sep 20;5(3):103212.doi: 10.1016/j.xpro.2024.103212. Epub 2024 Aug 10. PubMed
3. Cortical brain organoid slices (cBOS) for the study of human neural cells in minimal networks. Laura Petersilie, Sonja Heiduschka, Joel S E Nelson, Louis A Neu, Stephanie Le, Ruchika Anand, Karl W Kafitz, Alessandro Prigione, Christine R Rose. iScience. 2024 Mar 4;27(4):109415. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2024.109415. eCollection 2024 Apr 19. PubMed

PhD Thesis
Investigating oncogene signaling-mediated glycoproteome remodeling

Supervisors

• Prof. Dr. Guido Reifenberger

• Prof. Dr. Lutz Schmitt

Publications

• Oncogenic RAS signaling suppresses ferroptosis via transcriptional upregulation of GCH1, Jonathan K. M. Lim, Frauke Stölting, Tal Levy, Leonie Thewes, Daniel Picard, Sofya Tishina, Hai-Feng Zhang, Oksana Lewandowska, Tobias Reiff, Marc Remke, Johannes Brägelmann, Filippo Beleggia, Carsten Berndt, Silvia von Karstedt, Guido Reifenberger, Barak Rotblat, Gabriel Leprivier, bioRxiv, January 29, 2024, doi: doi.org/10.1101/2024.01.27.577524, this article is a preprint and has not been certified by peer review.
• Early life adversity drives sex-specific anhedonia and meningeal immune gene expression through mast cell activation, Natalia Duque-Wilckens, Robert Teis, Erika Sarno, Frauke Stoelting, Sonia Khalid, Zakaria Dairi, Alex Douma, Nidia Maradiaga, Stina Hench, Christine D Dharshika, Kyan M Thelen, Brian Gulbransen, A J Robison, Adam J Moeser, Brain Behav Immun. 2022 Jul;103:73-84. doi: 10.1016/j.bbi.2022.03.009. Epub 2022 Mar 24. PMID: 35339629; PMCID: PMC9149134.
• WBP2-Onkogen-Regulation durch miRNA-prozessierenden Dicer im Hippo/MST-Signalweg, Frauke Stoelting, Journal Club, March 2021, BIOspektrum 27(2):172-175, DOI:10.1007/s12268-021-1552-1
• The histamine H3R and dopamine D2R/D3R antagonist ST-713 ameliorates autism-like behavioral features in BTBR T+tf/J mice by multiple actions, Karthikkumar Venkatachalam, Nermin Eissa, Mohamed Al Awad, Petrilla Jayaprakash, Sicheng Zhong, Frauke Stölting, Holger Stark, Bassem Sadek, Biomedicine & Pharmacotherapy, Volume 138, 2021, 111517, ISSN 0753-3322, DOI: doi.org/10.1016/j.biopha.2021.111517.

PhD Thesis
Pharmacological promotion of CNS regeneration following neurodegenerative diseases via specific SP1R modulation.

Supervisors

• Prof. Dr. Patrick Küry

• Prof. Dr. Simone Prömel

Publications:

1. Molecular dissection of HERV-W dependent microglial- and astroglial cell polarization. Joel Gruchot, Laura Reiche, Luisa Werner, Felisa Herrero, Jessica Schira-Heinen, Urs Meyer, Patrick Küry. Microbes Infect. 2024 Jun 27:105382. doi: 10.1016/j.micinf.2024.105382. Online ahead of print. PubMed
2. A Novel Ex Vivo Model to Study Therapeutic Treatments for Myelin Repair following Ischemic Damage. Luisa Werner, Michael Gliem, Nicole Rychlik, Goran Pavic, Laura Reiche, Frank Kirchhoff, Markley Silva Oliveira Junior, Joel Gruchot, Sven G Meuth, Patrick Küry, Peter Göttle. Int J Mol Sci. 2023 Jun 30;24(13):10972. doi: 10.3390/ijms241310972. PubMed
3. Teriflunomide as a therapeutic means for myelin repair. Peter Göttle, Janos Groh, Laura Reiche, Joel Gruchot, Nicole Rychlik, Luisa Werner, Iria Samper Agrelo, Rainer Akkermann, Annika Zink, Alessandro Prigione, Hans-Peter Hartung, Rudolf Martini, Patrick Küry. J Neuroinflammation. 2023 Jan 7;20(1):7. doi: 10.1186/s12974-022-02686-6. PubMed
4. TLR4 Associated Signaling Disrupters as a New Means to Overcome HERV-W Envelope-Mediated Myelination Deficits. Peter Göttle, Kira Schichel, Laura Reiche, Luisa Werner, Annika Zink, Alessandro Prigione, Patrick Küry. Front Cell Neurosci. 2021 Nov 23:15:777542. doi: 10.3389/fncel.2021.777542. eCollection 2021. PubMed

PhD Thesis
Choroid plexus organoids for modelling Huntington's Disease.

Supervisor

• Prof. Dr. Alessandro Prigione
• Prof. Dr. Christine Rose

Publication

1. Brain organoid models of Huntington's disease shift the focus towards neurodevelopment. Wenqing Xu, Alessandro Prigione. Dis Model Mech. 2025 Oct 1;18(10):dmm052510. doi: 10.1242/dmm.052510. Epub 2025 Oct 28. PubMed