Lisa Maier
PI
is interested in all microorganisms that live in and on our bodies, especially those that are still almost unexplored. After a degree in biochemistry, a PhD in microbiology and a postdoc in systems microbiology, Lisa started her own lab in 2019. In 2022, she was appointed full professor for Microbiome-Host Interactions at the University of Tübingen.
Lab Members
Jacobo de la Cuesta Zuluaga
Jacobo is a biologist and holds a Master's in biological sciences, degrees obtained at CES University in Medellin, Colombia. Fleeing the lab life, he obtained a PhD in bioinformatics at the Ley Lab (Max Planck Institute for Biology, Tübingen). He's the lab bioinformatician since summer 2022
Nina Ulmer
Nina obtained her bachelor’s and master‘s degree in Biochemistry at the University of Tübingen. She discovered her fascination with microbiology during her bachelor thesis working on plant-microbe interactions. During her master‘s degree, she joined Lisa‘s lab first as an intern, then for her master thesis and is now pursuing her PhD in the Maier lab.
Andreas Vorbach
Andreas Vorbach graduated with a MSc in Microbiology from the University of Tübingen in 2018. For his PhD, he worked in the lab of Heike Brötz Oesterheld (IMIT, Tübingen) on drug optimisation and cellular uptake mechanisms of new antimicrobial drugs in prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells.
Maria Gaitanidou
Maria earned her Bachelor’s in Molecular Biology and Genetics and her Master’s in Applied Bioinformatics and Data Analysis, both from Democritus University of Thrace in Greece. Her interest in microbes developed during an internship and through her Master’s thesis work at EMBL. She then joined the Maier Lab as a PhD student to investigate Clostridium genetics.
Rahul Unni
Rahul holds an MSc. in Biotechnology from VIT University, India and an MSc. in Molecular Biology and Evolution from Kiel University, Germany. He earned his PhD in the group of Daniel Unterweger in Kiel University and the MPI for Evolutionary Biology, Plön, where he studied the evolution of E. coli in the gut of chronically inflamed gnotobiotic mice. Rahul joined Lisa’s group in February 2024.
Eden Laing
Eden obtained both her Bachelor's degree in Molecular Biology and Biotechnology and her Honour's Bachelor degree in Biochemistry from Stellenbosch University. Thereafter she completed a Master's degree in Computational Biology from the University of Kent before starting her doctorate in 2022. She works on a joint project in the Maier lab together with the Bézière lab within the Werner Siemens Imaging Center.
Lara Berg
Lara completed her Bachelor’s degree in Molecular Biology at the University of California Santa Cruz. While obtaining her MSc in Molecular Cell Biology and Immunology in Tübingen, she discovered her interest for the human microbiome and is now perusing her PhD in the Maier lab.
Jan Homolak
Jan obtained an MD degree from the University of Zagreb School of Medicine (Croatia) in 2018. During his medical studies, he joined the Molecular Neuropharmacology Lab at the Department of Pharmacology and the Croatian Institute for Brain Research in the same institution where he earned his PhD in 2023 for studying the pathophysiological changes in the gastrointestinal tract in animal models of Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease. He joined Lisa's lab in September 2023.
Leonardo Boldt
Leonardo graduated with a Master’s degree in Biochemistry and Biophysics from the University of Freiburg in 2022 after joining the University of Tübingen for his Master Thesis. After focusing on small-molecule drugs and antibiotics research, he joined the Maier Lab in early 2023 to study the human gut microbiome.
Jinyoung Park
Jinyoung received an Honours Bachelor's degree in Cell and Molecular Biology and Human Biology from the University of Toronto. She then completed a Master's degree in Chemical and Bioengineering at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg. With a passion for human gut microbiome research, she joined the Maier lab as a research technician.
FORMER LAB MEMBERS
Dr. Nermin Akduman (2020 – 2025)
Emma Pitotti (2024)
Dr. Lena Michaelis (2021-2023)
Dr. Heyde Makimaa (2023)
Dr. Taiyeb Zahir (2019 – 2022)
Emma Pitotti (2024)
Anne Grießhammer (2019 – 2025)
Melanie Brauny (2022 – 2024)
Chiara Oberhammer (2025)
Nina Ulmer (2024)
Verena Schmidtchen (2023)
Chiara Planker (2022)
Katharina Schmitt (2021)
Patrick Müller (2020)
Mara Montag (2024)
Hannah Reisinger (2023)
Chiara Obermüller (2022)
Paula Gallardo Villanueva (2021)
Miriam Hoerder (2024)
Elena Madlener (2024)
Laura Hainel (2024)
Laura Torres Ribas (2022)
Nina Ulmer (2022)
Chiara Planker (2022)
Jan-Philipp Wittlinger (2021)
Jérôme-Maurice Dobrowolski (2021)
Melanie Brauny (2020)
Katharina Schmitt (2020)
Patrick Müller (2019)
Nalini Rama Rao (2020-2022)
Thomas Hagemann (2021-2022)
Delphine Cormontagne (2022)
Viola Ueltzhöffer (2019)
Sebastian Schroth (2023 – 2024)