(June 2024, from left to right: Petra, Jörg, Johanna, Benjamin, Mauricio, Madeleine, Janina, Rifat)

Janina Kroll. Janina studied biology at LMU Munich and human biology at Philipps-University Marburg. During her master thesis she conducted a functional analysis of LPA receptors in ovarian cancer cells at the Institute of Molecular Biology and Tumor Research. In 2019 she joined the Renkawitz lab and the IRTG 914 graduate program of the SFB 914 for her PhD. Her main research interest is to elucidate the mechanisms and factors of nucleokinesis during leukocyte trafficking.

Nelly Gotting. Nelly is studying human medicine at LMU Munich and has previously worked as a medical technologist for several years. She joined our group in August 2024 for her doctoral thesis. She investigates how neutrophil granulocytes‘ behavior is influenced by their microenviroment and various substances.

Jörg Renkawitz. Jörg studied biochemistry at the LMU Munich and the TU Munich, with research stays at the Max-Planck Institute of Biochemistry, the Gene Center, the ETH Zurich and the NIH-US National Cancer Institute. For his PhD research, he investigated the molecular mechanisms of DNA repair in the lab of Stefan Jentsch at the Max-Planck Institute of Biochemistry. In 2014, he joined the lab of Michael Sixt at the Institute of Science and Technology (IST) Austria in Vienna for his postdoctoral research to study the principles of cellular navigation through three-dimensional micro-environments. In 2018, Jörg has been awarded with the endowed Peter Hans Hofschneider Professorship for Molecular Medicine (Foundation Experimental Medicine) and established his independent research group at the Biomedical Center Munich. Jörg’s research has further been awarded and supported by the Life Science Award Austria in Basic Research, the Junior Research Award of the Max-Planck Institute of Biochemistry, the EMBO LTF postdoctoral fellowship, the ISTFELLOW postdoctoral fellowship and the Boehringer Ingelheim Foundation (BIF) PhD fellowship.

Mauricio Ruiz. Mauricio studied Molecular Biotechnology and Biochemistry at the Technical University Munich (TUM). During his master he employed intestinal organoids for oncology research during a research stay at the Columbia University Irving Medical Center. In his master thesis at the Schmidt-Supprian lab (TranslaTUM) he developed sequential and inducible gene editing strategies. Mauricio joined the Renkawitz lab and the IRTG 914 graduate program for his PhD in 2019, where he is investigating cell shape coordination of migrating immune cells. He also joined the DFG-funded Priority Programme SPP2332 Physics of Parasitism to study the mechanobiology of Toxoplasma gondii dissemination by immune cells.

Madeleine Schmitt. Madeleine studied biomedicine at Julius-Maximilians-University Würzburg. During her master thesis she established and characterized tumor models in Drosophila melanogaster at the Institute of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. In 2019 she joined the Renkawitz lab and the IRTG 914 graduate program of the SFB 914 for her PhD. Madeleine's research focuses on investigating the mechanisms of centrosome coherence during immune cell migration in complex 3D microenvironments.

Kasia Stefanowski. Lab technician 

Haohan Zhang. Haohan studied biology at the University of Tsukuba, Japan. During his undergraduate and master's research, he investigated the cAMP pathway in Dictyostelium and identified factors regulating amoeboid migration and aggregation. He later contributed to developing a novel CRISPR knockout method for Dictyostelium during an internship at EMBL Heidelberg. In 2024, he joined the Renkawitz lab with a DAAD scholarship for his PhD. His primary research interest is uncovering the mechanisms maintaining centrosome integrity during cell migration.