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Prof. Dr. Anja Zeigerer
Department Leader
Phone +49 621 383-71705
anja.zeigerer@medma.uni-heidelberg.de
Anja completed her Master’s training in Biology from the University of Heidelberg, Germany and, as an external MSc. student, from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York in 2000. She received her PhD degree from the University of Heidelberg and as an exchange student from Weill Cornell Medical College, New York in 2004, for her work on insulin signalling and cellular membrane trafficking in fat cells. During her postdoctoral studies at the Rockefeller University, she studied leptin secretion by adipocytes, and after returning to Germany, Max Planck Institute for Cell Biology and Genetics in Dresden, she discovered a pivotal role of the endo-lysosomal system in liver metabolism which led to the initiation of a new research area. In 2015, she started her own group at the Institute for Diabetes and Cancer at Helmholtz Munich, before she was appointed in 2023, as Full Professor at the University of Heidelberg, where she continues to investigate basic cellular principles of metabolic control in health and disease. In particular, she and her team are interested in how components of the endo-lysosomal system influence glucose and lipid metabolism in the liver. The group also investigates how nutritional cues, such as the fasting/feeding transition and metabolic abnormalities influence the endo-lysosomal system.
Monika Hurd
Administrative Assistant
Phone +49 621 383-71708
Fax +49 621 383-71870
monika.hurd@medma.uni-heidelberg.de
Monika has been working as administrative assistant for a number of research groups in the Department of Medicine at the Mannheim Medical Faculty since 2006. She joined Prof. Zeigerer’s group end of 2023 and ensures efficient office operations.
Dr. rer. nat. Ulrike Fillinger
Scientific Coordinator
Phone +49 621 383-71706
ulrike.fillinger@medma.uni-heidelberg.de
Ulrike received her PhD in Biology from the University of Heidelberg in 1998. She specialized in the ecology of tropical diseases and worked for over 20 years as a public health expert in East Africa. In 2023, she returned to Germany and joined Prof. Zeigerer’s group as scientific coordinator. She supports the Department with scientific and administrative project management, grant development, and research regulatory compliance tasks.
Dr. rer. nat. Ivan Kuzmanov
Scientific Writer
Phone +49 621 383-71706
ivan.kuzmanov@medma.uni-heidelberg.de
Ivan studied biology at the University of Belgrade, Serbia, and received his PhD from the University of Münster, Germany, in 2017. After his postdoc studies at the University of Bonn (2017-2019), Ivan worked as a scientist and scientific/medical writer at BioNTech, Mainz (2020-2024). He joined Prof. Zeigerer’s group at the University of Heidelberg in 2024, where he works as a scientific writer.
Valentino Mattera
Labmanager / Medical Technical Assistant (MTA)
Phone +49 621 383-71704
valentino.mattera@medma.uni-heidelberg.de
Valentino initially trained as an animal caretaker, then completed his medical technical assistant (MTA) apprenticeship at the UMM. Since 2017, he worked in laboratory set-ups in the pharmaceutical industry, at the UMM hospital and a small research company in Heidelberg until he joined Prof. Zeigerer's group as laboratory manager at the beginning of 2024.
Post-Doctoral Fellows
Dr. rer. nat. Yun Kwon
Junior Group Leader
yun.kwon@medma.uni-heidelberg.de
Yun earned a bachelor's degree in Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology from Kyung-Hee National University and a master's degree in Molecular and Cell Biology from Pohang University of Science and Technology in the Republic of Korea in 2012. He studied intracellular vesicles, organelle development and function, and membrane dynamics for intracellular and intercellular communication for his PhD (2012–2018), which examined the connection between intracellular protein trafficking and organelle development in the context of embryonic development. He joined Prof. Zeigerer’s group at the Institute for Diabetes and Cancer at the Helmholtz Centre Munich in 2018 and moved with her to Mannheim in 2024. Currently, he works on developing a reliable in vitro 3D culture system of primary human hepatocytes for preclinical research on liver diseases and diabetes.
Dr. Qaaifah Gillani Syed
Senior Post-Doctoral Fellow
qaaifahgillani.syed@helmholtz-munich.de
Qaaifah studied the role of oncogenic kinases in chemotherapeutic resistance during her PhD research at the University of Kashmir India, Newcastle University UK, and Harvard Medical School, USA. She joined Prof. Zeigerer’s lab in 2022, where she is investigating the role of Rab24 in liver metabolism and its impact on metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis and diabetes. She is currently based at the Helmholtz Centre Munich.
Dr. rer. nat. Surui Wang
Post-Doctoral Fellow
surui.wang@medma.uni-heidelberg.de
Surui Wang completed her PhD at the Helmholtz Center Munich (2020–2024), where her research focused on the molecular mechanisms underlying liver physiology. She is currently a postdoctoral researcher in Anja's lab, where she investigates the role of the ESCRT-I machinery in maintaining liver function. Her work aims to elucidate how ESCRT-I controlled signaling pathways impact liver health, with potential implications for developing therapeutic strategies to treat liver diseases.
PhD Candidates
(Student Office Phone: +49 621 383-71700/-71701)
Layal Albdeirat
Layal earned her Bachelor of Pharmacy from King Saud University in Riyadh in 2020, where she developed an interest in metabolic diseases through her project on the protective role of Chrysin in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). She then pursued a Master's in Toxicology at the University of Potsdam, Germany, completing her thesis under the supervision of Michael Bader at the Max Delbrück Center in Berlin, focusing on "The Role of Soluble ACE2 in COVID-19 Infection." Layal joined Prof. Zeigerer's lab in November 2024 as PhD student and will investigate the pathophysiological interactions between hepatic and cardiac systems, specifically investigating the mechanisms underlying liver-heart axis dysfunctions.
Salvador Garcia Andrade
salvador.garcia@medma.uni-heidelberg.de
Salvador received his bachelor’s degree in Biotechnology Engineering from the Monterrey Institute of Technology in Mexico. He then completed a Master’s degree in Translational Medical Research at the Medical Faculty Mannheim of Heidelberg University. His research focused on cardiomyocyte polyploidy and heart regeneration, specifically investigating the role of identified candidate genes in promoting neonatal rat cardiomyocyte polyploidization. In November 2024, he joined Prof. Zeigerer’s Lab, where he will study the role of Vps37a in liver physiology and the development of diseases such as type-2 diabetes.
Huimin Tian
Huimin obtained her Bachelor's degree in Clinical Medicine from the Zhongshan School of Medicine at Sun Yat-sen University in 2021 and her Master's degree in Internal Medicine from West China Medical School of Sichuan University in 2024. During her postgraduate research, she investigated the roles and mechanisms of extracellular vesicles and single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in obesity and MASLD. She joined Prof. Zeigerer’s research group as PhD candidate in October 2024 and aims to investigate the regulation and therapeutic potential of the ESCRT machinery in MASH, with a particular focus on membrane trafficking.
Carmen Paredes Yubero
Carmen received her Bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry from the Autonomous University of Madrid in 2020, where she later pursued a Master’s degree in Molecular Biomedicine. In 2021, she began her PhD research at Prof. Zeigerer's lab, focusing on unravelling novel mechanisms involved in metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD).
Joel Tissink
Joël was drawn to the field of metabolism and energy homeostasis during his biomedical studies in Groningen. He participated in research on diabetes and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), which sparked his interest in endo-lysosomal regulation and the impact on metabolic diseases. As a PhD student in Prof. Zeigerer’s lab since 2020, he is exploring the cellular mechanisms regulating the fasting-refeeding response in hepatocytes.