About Us — the wimmers lab

Unlocking the Secrets of Immunity Together

In our lab, creativity meets scientific rigor, creating an environment where students flourish as confident, independent researchers. Our philosophy centers on team science and nurturing creative confidence, blending diverse expertise in immunology, cancer, epigenomics, and computational biology. Collaboration is key; we encourage continuous interaction among lab members and with global partners in the Netherlands, USA, and Switzerland. This blend of innovative research and a supportive environment is our commitment to driving significant advances in global health.

Meet Our Team

Research Group Leader

Florian Wimmers, PhD

List of Publications

With over a decade of experience as a systems biology specialist, Florian Wimmers has dedicated his career to advancing the field of immunological research, multi-omics analysis, and computational biology. His primary research interests encompass the realm of human translational immunology, particularly within the contexts of vaccination, cancer, and infectious diseases. He holds a deep passion for exploring innate immunity, delving into the intricacies of epigenomics, and unraveling the mysteries of single-cell heterogeneity.

Research Stations:

Radboud University in the Netherlands
Institute for Research in Biomedicine in Switzerland
Stanford University in the United States

Now, Dr. Wimmers is embarking on an exciting new chapter in his career as he establishes his own research group in the field of Systems Immunology at the University of Tübingen. This endeavor fills him with enthusiasm and the determination to continue pushing the boundaries of our understanding of the immune system and its pivotal role in health and disease.

Find out more about his research in Dr. Wimmers List of Publications

Estel Collado Camps

Estel obtained her BSc in Human Biology from Universitat Pompeu Fabra (Barcelona, Spain) and her MSc in Molecular Mechanisms of Disease from Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen (Nijmegen, The Netherlands). She obtained a PhD in Molecular Imaging (Radboudumc, Nijmegen) in early 2022.

Estel is intrigued by complex topics and passionate about the importance of good communication. She brings in her experience in medical molecular biology, which combined with systems-immunology approaches will uncover new aspects of the secret life of immune cells.

Carlotta Schieler

Carlotta obtained a BSc in Molecular Life Science (Radboud University, Nijmegen) and a MSc in Bioinformatics and Biocomplexity (Utrecht University). She has previously worked on computational immunology projects involving transcriptomics, epigenetic and repertoire sequencing data studying disease as well as immune response. Currently, she is studying the immune response after vaccination in cancer patients using scRNA-seq and integrating B-cell receptor sequencing. Her goal is not only to elucidate the underlying mechanism of the immune system, but also bridge the gap from wet lab to computational analysis.

Sina Angenendt

Sina received her BSc in Liberal Arts and Sciences with a major in Life Sciences from the University of Freiburg and her MSc in Biomedicine from Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm. She developed an interest in immunology in the context of both infectious diseases and cancer during her Masters and has worked on different immunology projects, using both wet lab and computational techniques. Sina became introduced to systems immunology during her Master thesis and has been fascinated by this approach ever since. During her PhD studies, she combines wet and dry lab techniques with a systems approach to study immune responses in healthy and cancer patients.

Dominik Frank

Dominik began his Bachelor's degree in Biochemistry at the University of Ulm and later completed a Master's in the same field after transferring to Tübingen University. His academic focus has been primarily on protein interaction profiling and immunological omics techniques, utilizing high-throughput assays and mass spectrometry. Working at the interface of wet lab experimentation and data analysis, he has developed a strong interest in data mining.
Dominik’s PhD studies aim to advance the knowledge of vaccine-induced immune system dynamics in cancer and health to unveil novel treatment perspectives.
In his free time, he is keen on studying botany, doing athletics, and playing badminton.

Leonie Gerst

Leonie obtained her BSc in Biotechnology from University Esslingen (Esslingen, Germany) and her MSc in Biomedical Sciences from University Albstadt-Sigmaringen (Sigmaringen, Germany). Leonie is interested in immunology, molecular biology and cancer biology which are all combined in the Wimmers lab.

Dingwen Su

Dingwen obtained her BSc from Tongji University (Shanghai, China) and an MSc from the University of Tübingen. During her PhD at the Friedrich Miescher Laboratory (Germany), she integrated wet lab and computational methods to explore the role of DNA G-quadruplexes in Bloom Syndrome, developing a strong interest in single-cell sequencing along the way.
Her long-term research goal is to harness diverse methodologies to unravel the mechanisms of complex diseases and their intricate interactions with the immune system.

Maike Nägele

Maike obtained both her BSc in Medical Informatics and her MSc in Bioinformatics from the University of Tübingen.
She brings expertise in machine learning and computational methods to analyze diverse biological data, with her previous work focusing on genomics in cancer and epilepsy.

Marina Kaiser

Marina is a Biochemistry Bachelor’s student at the University of Tübingen. She is specifically interested in immunology. In her bachelor’s thesis at the Wimmers Lab, she works with human tonsil organoids to study the influence of cancer drugs on the immune response to Covid-19 and RSV vaccines.

Marie Münkel

Marie has obtained both her Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Technical Biology at the University of Stuttgart (Stuttgart, Germany). During her PhD at the University of Tuebingen (Tuebingen, Germany), she explored the role of biomechanical aspects in bacterial infections and pathogens' cell-to-cell spread.

Marie is excited about integrating wet lab approaches with computational biology to tackle fundamental questions in translational immunology. She aims to deepen her understanding of how the immune system responds to vaccination and cancer while developing new skills at the interface of experimental and data-driven research.

Alumni

Vincent Verberne

Vincent completed his Bachelor’s Biomedical Engineering at the Technical University of Eindhoven in the Netherlands. During his Bachelor’s he developed an interest in immunology resulting in doing his Master’s degree in Eindhoven in the Immunoengineering group. Here he could combine both his interests in immunology and technology working on heterogeneity in the innate immune system. In the Wimmers Lab he will expand his knowledge of immunology, cancer and single cell epigenomics.

Magdalena Giez

Ellen obtained her Bachelor's in Biology at Radboud University (Nijmegen, the Netherlands) with a specialization in Functional Genomics. She then continued her studies in Nijmegen with a Master's in Medical Epigenomics. She brings a rich background in molecular biology, and wants to expand her knowledge on cancer immunology in the Wimmers Lab.

Ellen van de Logt

Ellen obtained her Bachelor's in Biology at Radboud University (Nijmegen, the Netherlands) with a specialization in Functional Genomics. She then continued her studies in Nijmegen with a Master's in Medical Epigenomics. She brings a rich background in molecular biology, and wants to expand her knowledge on cancer immunology in the Wimmers Lab.

Marcel Schoch

Marcel is currently studying Bioinformatics at the University of Tübingen, focusing on computational immunomics. In his Bachelor's thesis at the Wimmers Lab, he is interested in applying computational and statistical methods in epigenomics to gain more insights into the effect of cancer on the immune system, particularly in the trained immunity of monocytes.

Claudia Ventura Nadal

Clàudia is a Biochemistry Bachelor's student at the University of Barcelona with a strong interest in genetics and immunology. She has previously worked on epigenetics focusing on transgenerational silencing where she developed a keen interest in chromatin and posttranslational modifications. Clàudia is also interested in immunology, particularly in the development of immunotherapies to treat cancer and vaccinology. At the Wimmers Lab, she will combine her interests and work on epigenetics, cancer and vaccinology.

Jannik Geissner

Jannik is studying biochemistry at the University of Tübingen, with a special interest in computational approaches to immunology and oncology. His bachelor thesis work at the Wimmers Lab focuses on establishing scRNA-seq analysis pipelines and applying them to data from a vaccination study in cancer patients, aiming to understand altered immune responses.

Honya Said

Honya is a Biochemistry Bachelor's student at the University of Tübingen with a strong interest in immunology. Her bachelor’s thesis work at the Wimmers Lab focuses on stimulating human tonsil organoids with Influenza and Shingles vaccines to understand how cancer drugs alter immune responses.

Aylin Heinrich

RESEARCH TECHNICIAN (Systems Immunology Lab & AG Schulze-Osthoff)
Aylin completed her training as a research technician (Biologisch-Technische-Assistentin) at the Ludwig Fresenius school in Koblenz and has experience working with immunological and wet-lab methods, organoids, and mice. She is the fundamental force that keeps the lab together and helps manage and organize everything experimental. Aylin has a listening ear for suggestions, improvements, and concerns and supports her team members in performing their wet lab work.

Mohammed Salih

Mohammed is a master's student at IFIZB studying molecular cell biology and immunology. He earned his bachelor's degree in Medical Laboratory Sciences from Omdurman University and worked as a second medical specialist at AL Abrar hospital. Mohammad is interested in immunology in general and in onco-immunology in particular. He is currently seeking to gain deep expertise and insights into an immune system in response to vaccination in both healthy individuals and cancer patients.

Robin Schäper

Robin is a biochemistry student from Tübingen. He began his studies out of curiosity about living organisms and gradually developed a strong interest in mathematics and bioinformatics. He has applied his knowledge to various projects related to structural biology and immunology. Currently, he is investigating the transcriptomic response to influenza vaccination, learning a great deal about managing large datasets through coding, and reflecting on data and statistics. For Robin, the most exciting aspect of science is generating hypotheses, and in his free time, he enjoys music and drawing.

Victoria Tennert

Victoria completed her Bachelor’s in Biology at the University of Tübingen where she is now a master’s student in Molecular Cell Biology and Immunology. She is particularly interested in immunology and cancer biology and seeks to deepen her knowledge in the Wimmers lab. In her master's thesis, she aims to gain insights into the response of T cells to vaccination in healthy individuals and cancer patients.