Team

Katharina is a biomedical scientist with a focus on experimental and translational theranostics. She is interested in understanding mechanisms underlying response/non-response to radiopharmaceutical therapy, and aims at improving theranostic approaches and thus, outcomes for cancer patients. Katharina obtained her PhD at the Institute for Tumor Biology and Experimental Therapy (Georg-Speyer-Haus, Germany). She served as head of the research group Experimental Oncology in Nuclear Medicine at the University of Würzurg (Germany), and of the pre-clinical Nuclear Medicine team at the University of California Los Angeles (USA), before transferring to University Hospital Essen in March 2021.

Lara received her M. Sc. in Molecular Cell Biology from the University of Bielefeld focusing on the cytotoxicity of natural killer cells. She joined our group in 2022 as a doctoral researcher and is a member of the GRK 2762 training program. She focuses on exploring a new radioimmunotherapy to target pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma.

Justin is a chemist specialized in physical organic chemistry with interests in computational engineering. He did his PhD at the University of Duisburg-Essen, where he studied rigidly bridged oxo- and thioethers with solid and solution state emission for use in biomedical imaging. Since 2023 he is part of our team and is currently working on radiolabeled nanoreporters.

Alana obtained her M.Sc. in Medical Biology from the University Duisburg-Essen investigating the application of Proteomics for the prognosis of drug-induced liver injury. She joined our group first in 2022 for her bachelor thesis and rejoined 2025 as a doctoral researcher. She is a member of the GRK 2762 training program with focus on exploring tumor-microenvironment targeted radioligand therapy to target pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma.

Natalie completed her training as a biological technical assistant in Marl in 2023 and joined our team later the following year. She supports ongoing projects in preclinical imaging and therapy and the work-up of clinical samples.

Yalcin is a biologist specializing in quantitative image analysis and 3D microscopy and is applying these techniques to theranostics since joining our team in 2023. He received his PhD in 2020 from the Heidelberg University on the filtration barrier of the kidney. As a postdoctoral researcher at DKFZ (NCT-Dresden), Yalcin studied esophageal cancer with the goal of accurately determining the spatial positioning of histopathology samples along the esophagus, which facilitates assessment of the extent of tumor infiltration and understanding clinical target volume (CTV) for radiotherapy.

Camilla completed her master’s degree in Biology Applied to Biomedical Research at the University of Milan. She focused on the role of platelet-derived extracellular vesicles in the formation of the lung cancer premetastatic niche. She joined in late 2025 as a PhD student investigating radioligand therapy in prostate cancer.

Tabea obtained her M.Sc. in Molecular and Developmental Stem Cell Biology from the Ruhr University Bochum in 2023 where she investigated the role of the transcription factor ATOH8 in murine early embryonic development. She joined our group in 2025 as a PhD student as part of a collaboration project with the Tasdogan group at the Department of Dermatology and focuses on identifying potential new targets for radioligand therapy in melanoma.

Siyavash received his B.Sc. and M.Sc. in Organic Chemistry, where he focused on the synthesis of a novel ketamine derivative. He subsequently joined a hospital setting and worked for several years as a radiochemist, specializing in the synthesis and quality control of the radiopharmaceutical FDG. He has also contributed to numerous research projects on the synthesis of various radiopharmaceuticals. In 2024, he joined the University Hospital Essen as a Technical Chemistry Assistant, where he supports radiolabeling.

Anna completed her training as a biological technical assistant in Marl in 2024 and joined our team later that year. She supports ongoing projects in preclinical imaging and therapy and the work-up of clinical samples.

Ravi Vaghela is a biologist specializing in translational biomedical research, with expertise in in vivo models, microvascular biology, and advanced imaging techniques. He earned his PhD from Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, where he established an intravital microscopy model for in vivo analysis of microvascular development in the rat arteriovenous (AV) loop. After completing his doctorate, he joined the Technical University of Munich and Helmholtz Munich as a postdoctoral researcher, where he contributed to preclinical studies on melanoma and diabetes and advanced optoacoustic imaging (RSOM) in mouse models. His research combines microsurgery, animal experimentation, and imaging-based analysis to connect experimental biology with clinically relevant applications.

Valeska obtained her PhD from the University of Dortmund for the total synthesis and structural elucidation of complex natural products in the field of organic chemistry. During her PostDocs her research focus was expanded by the design, bioconjugation, radiolabelling and in vitro/in vivo evaluation of new radiotracers. She joined our team in 2021 and is currently working on automating the radiolabeling of liposomes. Valeska enjoys to learn from future collaborative projects.

Jasmin completed her training as a biological technical assistant in Düsseldorf in 2017. Since 2018 she works in our preclinical research group. She focuses on preclinical imaging and therapy, the work-up of clinical samples and on coordinating and performing PET/CT imaging for cooperation projects with internal and external research groups.