Future Leaders in RNA-based Medicine

Brent Cuveele obtained his MSc in Biomedical Sciences and 'Tropical and Infectious Diseases' at the University of Antwerp (Belgium). His interests in RNA biology and RNA-based medicine strengthened when he completed his master's thesis in the group of Dr. Michalis Kotsyfakis at the Institute of Parasitology in Czech Republic. Pursuing a PhD in the research group of Prof. Dr. Gunter Meister at the University of Regensburg (Germany) as part of the graduate program “RNAmed – Future Leaders in RNA-based Medicine” now gives him the opportunity to further explore and study the fascinating field of RNA biology. 

Nikolai Diukarev received his MSc in Fundamental and Applied Chemistry from Tomsk State University (Russia) in 2019. He subsequently gained work experience in academia and industry. For his PhD studies, he joined the Carell group at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich. Currently, as part of the graduate program “RNAmed – Future Leaders in RNA-based Medicine,” he is working on prebiotic chemistry, where he is researching chemical pathways that could explain the emergence of the initial building blocks of life, such as amino acids, purines, and pyrimidines.

Anna Fürst studied Molecular and Industrial Biotechnology at the Technical University of Munich (Germany). In 2020, she joined ISAR Bioscience GmbH’s Stem Cell Platform as a master’s student. After successfully completing her thesis titled “Generation of a human model of juvenile idiopathic arthritis using stem cell and CRISPR-Cas9 technologies,” she continued her work at c where she recently started her PhD as part of the graduate program “RNAmed – Future Leaders in RNA-based Medicine”. She works on the generation and characterization of human-induced pluripotent stem cell (hiPSCs)-derived models of inflammatory diseases. Specifically, her PhD project focuses on the role of macrophages in Crohn's disease. Using CRISPR-Cas9, she creates her gene(s)-of-interest knockout hiPSC lines, which she then differentiates into macrophages. The phenotype and identity of these cells are then to be analyzed and compared to human primary samples in a wide array of functional and characterization assays. The ongoing readouts are focused on crucial macrophage functions like phagocytosis, cell migration, and cytokine secretion, as well as the analysis of macrophage identity by marker expression on RNA and protein levels. As per the outlook, the generated models are to be used for therapy development.

Charlotte Kamm obtained her MSc in Molecular Biosciences from Heidelberg University (Germany) in December 2022. For her master's thesis, she joined the Beisel lab at the Helmholtz Institute Würzburg (Germany), where she explored a novel gene editor in E. coli. As part of the graduate program “RNAmed – Future Leaders in RNA-based Medicine,” she has been continuing her journey in the Beisel lab as a PhD student since March 2023. Her current research focuses on characterizing and engineering DNA-modifying proteins for gene editing purposes.

Sarah Nentwich obtained her MSc at the University of Applied Sciences Mittelhessen (Germany) in Biotechnology/Biopharmaceutical Technology. She worked on the structural analyses of human papillomavirus using mass spectrometry as part of her master’s thesis at the Leibniz Institute of Virology in Hamburg (Germany). In March 2023, she joined the Vogel lab at the Helmholtz Institute Würzburg (Germany) as a PhD student to study programmable antibiotics based on antisense oligonucleotides (ASOs) as part of the graduate program “RNAmed – Future Leaders in RNA-based Medicine”.

Sinem Sürmeli completed her MSc in Pharmaceutical Biotechnology at the Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg (Germany). During her MSc, she focused on utilizing CRISPR tools on patient-derived organoids to improve chemotherapies in a personalized manner. She has a strong belief in the potential clinical application of CRISPR tools and aspires to contribute to leading the way towards a future where these tools are extensively employed in clinics. Her particular interest lies in targeting challenging organs like the heart. She started her PhD at the Technical University of Munich (Germany) as part of the graduate program “RNAmed – Future Leaders in RNA-based Medicine” in March 2023.