Davide Seruggia, PhD

Davide graduated in Biotechnology at the University of Milano-Bicocca, Italy. He obtained a PhD in Molecular and Cellular Biology at the CNB-CSIC in Madrid with Lluis Montoliu, where he studied non-coding regulatory DNA sequences in the mouse. During his postdoc with Stuart H. Orkin at the Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard, he trained in hematology, epigenetics and genomics. In 2021 Davide joined St. Anna CCRI as PI and CeMM as Adjunct PI. Outside the lab, Davide pretends to be a film photographer.

Ana Patricia Kutschat, PhD

Ana studied Biochemistry at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, before moving to Göttingen, Germany to continue her education. She did her PhD under the supervision of Prof. Steven Johnsen at the University Medical Center Göttingen, where she investigated acquired chemoresistance in pancreatic cancer and how it elicits a calcium-dependent epigenetic reprogramming. In July 2021, Ana joined the Seruggia lab as a Postdoc, and obtained a MSCA fellowship in 2022. Outside of the lab, Ana enjoys baking, reading, and traveling.

Leonie Lehmayer

Leonie studied Biochemistry and Molecular Biomedical Sciences in Graz, Austria. For her master’s thesis, she worked at the Institute of Molecular Biotechnology at the University of Technology in Graz under the supervision of Anita Emmerstorfer-Augustin. Her work was focused on targeted protein degradation, for which she implemented the Auxin-inducible degron system into the biotech yeast Komagataella phaffii (syn. Pichia pastoris). She joined the Seruggia lab in September 2021 as a PhD student via the CeMM PhD program. Outside the lab, Leonie enjoys hanging out with her friends, baking and traveling. Leonie is supported by a DOC Fellowship from the Austrian Academy of Sciences.

Sandra Wittibschlager

Sandra did her Bachelor’s degree in Biomedical Science in Linz and tested different culture times and media for the detection of chromosomal aberrations in myeloma cells in the course of her Bachelor thesis. After working in a microbiology lab, she moved to Vienna to continue her education and focus on the research area. She did her Master’s degree in Molecular Biotechnology at the FH Campus Wien and in January 2022 she joined the Seruggia lab for her master thesis dealing with the dissection of non-coding elements controlling immune evasion in neuroblastoma. In September 2023, Sandra joined the CeMM PhD program and will continue her work in the lab by studying non-coding variants in ALL and AML. Outside the lab, Sandra is an animal lover and enjoys dancing ballet and jazz as well as singing to musical and pop songs.

Sophie Müller

Sophie studied Molecular Microbiology and Immunobiology at the University of Vienna. For her master’s thesis she worked at the Georg Stary lab at the Medical University of Vienna. Her work was focused on investigating changes in the immune cell landscape of human blood and skin after natural tick bites and in active and resolved Lyme disease. In October 2022 she joined the Seruggia lab as a lab manager. Outside of the lab, Sophie enjoys reading, drawing, and traveling.

Paul Batty, PhD

Paul studied biochemistry at the University of Oxford, UK, and carried out his Master’s thesis in the lab of Kim Nasmyth. In Kim’s lab he studied the mechanisms by which the cohesin complex is released from chromatin independently of protein cleavage, using yeast as a model organism. After further training in immunology at the Nuffield Department of Medicine, Oxford, Paul moved to Vienna in 2018 to carry out his PhD research in the lab of Daniel Gerlich at IMBA, part of the Vienna BioCenter. During his PhD work, Paul investigated the mechanisms by which sister chromatids become resolved into spatially separated bodies in human cells and the contributions of the cohesin and condensin complexes to this process, using a combination of high-resolution microscopy and genomics approaches. Paul joined the Seruggia lab as a postdoc in September 2023. Outside of the lab, Paul enjoys hiking, drawing, and learning languages.

Hannah Beneder

Hannah obtained her Bachelor’s degree in Molecular Biotechnology from FH Campus Wien, studying miRNAs in hematopoietic stem cells at the European Research Institute for the Biology of Ageing in Groningen, The Netherlands, for her Bachelor’s thesis. She then switched to the University of Vienna to pursue a Master’s in Molecular Medicine. For her Master’s Thesis, she joined the lab of Julius Brennecke at IMBA, part of the Vienna Biocenter. Her work focused on the role of ZAD zinc finger proteins in the regulation of heterochromatin in Drosophila melanogaster. In September 2023, Hannah joined the Seruggia lab as part of the CeMM PhD program. Outside the lab, she enjoys hiking, running and spending fun evenings with friends.

Gerlinde Karbon, PhD

Gerlinde completed her Master’s degree at Leopold-Franzen’s University in Innsbruck, focusing on the BCL2 protein family in mitotically arrested breast cancer cell lines. Transitioning to the Medical University of Innsbruck for her PhD, she became part of the “Molecular Cell Biology & Oncology” PhD program. During this phase, her research focused on investigating mitotic cell death and the spindle assembly checkpoint in vivo using mouse models. In January 2024, Gerlinde started a new chapter by joining the Seruggia lab as a technical assistant. Outside the lab, she enjoys biking, playing video games, and engaging in social activities with friends, such as LAN parties.

Emilia Korczmar

Emilia earned her Bachelor’s degree in Biotechnology from Adam Mickiewicz University in Poland. In collaboration with the Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry at the Polish Academy of Sciences, she focused on studying the G-quadruplex structure of human miRNAs. She then pursued a Master’s degree in Biotechnology at Wroclaw University, where she developed in vitro models to investigate the role of ILK protein in melanoma. Supported by a Fulbright scholarship, Emilia moved to the University of Virginia, where she explored the function of a novel long non-coding RNA in prostate cancer. In September 2024, Emilia joined the Seruggia lab as part of the CeMM PhD program. Outside the lab, she enjoys drawing, painting, and traveling.

Freya Jungen

Freya received her Bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry from the Freie Universität Berlin. For her Bachelor thesis she joined Elena Levashina’s Vector Biology lab at Max-Planck-Institute for Infection Biology in Berlin to develop a Nanopore sequencing protocol to determine the bacterial composition of Anopheles mosquito larvae and rearing water samples. Freya then completed her Master’s degree at Freie Universität Berlin. During her studies she first spent six months at the Fuxman Bass Lab at Boston University designing a deep mutational scanning assay for transcription factors. For her Master’s thesis she joined the Ludwig Lab at the Berlin Institute for Medical Systems Biology to investigate lineage bias in human HSCs using mitochondrial single-cell ATAC sequencing. She joined the Seruggia Lab in September 2025 and is investigating the role of SNPs in B cell development and B cell leukemia. Outside of the lab Freya enjoys doing gymnastics, hiking and cooking.

Looking for a Postdoc position? Apply here!

Looking for a PhD position? This could be you! Contact us and apply to the CeMM PhD Program call (deadline 27/1/2022). More info about the position here.