I have been interested in immunology for a very long time and therefore studied in Magdeburg on the Master's programme in Immunology: Understanding Inflammation. After my Master's thesis, in which I focussed on signal transduction cascades in immune cells, I moved to the University of Oldenburg and started my doctoral thesis in Immunology (School VI, Department for Human Medicine). In my doctoral thesis, I used various animal models for inflammatory and degenerative diseases of the central nervous system and cell culture systems to show that the neurohormone alpha-melanocyte-stimulating hormone appears to have an influence on the integrity of the blood-brain barrier by modulating the expression and function of the tight-junction molecules between the endothelial cells.

Immediately after my doctoral thesis, I started my postdoc (also in immunology). In the postdoc, Bilal will continue the project from my PhD thesis and I will support him. I am also interested in the importance and function of the aryl-hydrocarbon receptor, one of the factors known as a sensor for environmental influences, in autoimmune diseases.

I started my scientific education with a Bachelor's degree in Engineering and Biotechnology from Anna University in India.

Subsequently, I successfully completed a Master's degree programme in Neurobiology at Georg-August University in Göttingen, Germany.

I am currently pursuing a PhD in Immunology (School VI, Department of Human Medicine) with a research focus on multiple sclerosis, especially specific T cell populations.

After completing my Bachelor's degree programme in Biology at the University of Hanover, I continued my studies at the University of Oldenburg.

Here I completed the Molecular Biomedicine degree programme with a Master's degree and already worked on an immunological topic during my Master's thesis.

My doctoral thesis, which I am also writing in Immunology (School VI, Department for Human Medicine), is focussed on gaining a better understanding of the role of myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSC) in various types of skin cancer.

I am particularly interested in whether the neuropeptide alpha-melanocyte-stimulating hormone can have an influence on the number or function of MDSCs.

I completed both my Bachelor's and Master's degrees in life sciences at the Technical University of Darmstadt, specialising in technical biology.

I then worked for 2 years in the pharmaceutical industry as a scientist in the field of drug trials. I then moved to the University of Oldenburg as a PhD student and am now working on the anti-inflammatory effect of newly developed, peripherally active kappa-opiod receptor agonists (KORA) in Immunology (School VI, Department for Human Medicine). In the long term, we want to use this project to develop new anti-inflammatory agents, and my focus is on preclinical studies in this process.

I completed my Bachelor's degree programme in Biotechnology and Bioinformatics at Emden/Leer University of Applied Sciences.

This was followed by a Master's degree programme at the University of Applied Sciences in Bremerhaven in the subject of biotechnology. After a short stint in industry, I now want to do my doctorate and the focus of my research project in Immunology (School VI, Department for Human Medicine) is on identifying biomarkers that may be important in premature births or high-risk pregnancies. I am also particularly interested in whether and how environmental factors to which the parents are exposed can have an influence on premature birth.

I completed my Bachelor's degree in Medical Laboratory Sciences at Haigazian University in Lebanon.

I then continued my studies at the University of Oldenburg with a Master's degree in Molecular Biomedicine. Recently, I started my PhD in Immunology AG (School VI, Department of Human Medicine). My project focusses on neuroimmunology and deals with the communication between endothelial and immune cells in inflammatory and degenerative diseases of the central nervous system.