Infos für
Direkt zu
Fakultäten
Fellows
Mikrobiota und Naturstoffe
Komal Zahid
“Impact of the lung microbiome on epithelial cell biology in preclinical models”
Komal Zahid completed her Bachelor's degree in Microbiology at the University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences (UVAS), Lahore, followed by a Master's degree at the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT), Russia, where she investigated non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) using tumour organoid models to study chemotherapeutic responses. In Dec 2023, she joined the TALENTS Graduate School as a PhD researcher in a collaborative project between the Department of Internal Medicine V at Saarland University Hospital (Prof. Dr. Dr. Robert Bals) and the Drug Delivery Across Biological Barriers (DDEL) Department at the Helmholtz Institute for Pharmaceutical Research Saarland (HIPS). Her research focuses on understanding how the lung microbiome influences epithelial cell biology and contributes to chronic respiratory diseases, particularly chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Using advanced in vitro models, including a microfluidic-based bacterial encapsulation platform, she investigates controlled interactions between lung-resident bacteria and bronchial epithelial cells to study bacterial persistence, inflammatory responses, and host–microbiome interactions. Her long-term goal is to develop physiologically relevant preclinical models that improve our understanding of microbiome-driven airway inflammation and support the development of new therapeutic strategies for chronic respiratory diseases. As part of her doctoral training, she completed a secondment at PharmBioTec GmbH, where she gained insight into industrial research and development, innovation management, and the translation of academic research into commercially viable technologies. This experience strengthened her understanding of how advanced in vitro models can be developed, validated, and transferred towards real-world biomedical and pharmaceutical applications for human health.
Lamyae Baddouri
"New treatment options for oral biofilm dysbiosis, caries, and periodontitis"
Lamyae Baddouri studied Bioprocess, Hygiene and Food Safety at the Faculty of Sciences and Techniques of Fez, Morocco. She then obtained her Master’s degree in Medical Biotechnology from Eastern Mediterranean University, North Cyprus. Since 2023, she has been pursuing her PhD at Saarland University, focusing on oral biofilms, probiotics, and the oral microbiome. Her doctoral work is supervised by Univ.-Prof. Dr. Matthias Hannig, with scientific guidance from Univ.-Prof. Dr. Stefan Rupf and Prof. Dr. Marc Schneider, bringing together expertise in restorative dentistry, periodontology, synoptic dentistry, and pharmaceutical technology. Her research investigates host–microbial interactions in the oral cavity and evaluates microbiome-based approaches relevant to oral health. During her PhD, she also worked closely with QIAGEN on the testing and development of DNA extraction workflows for oral microbiome research. Her extensive exposure to the clinical environment during her PhD and her work with excellent dentist-scientist supervisors strengthened her interest in clinically relevant and translational oral health research. She also completed a secondment at EURICE, where she gained insight into European research and innovation projects. Lamyae's broader research interests include translational microbiome research, high-quality clinical study design, responsible use of emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence in science, and improving the inclusion and representation of diverse populations in health research.
Lilu Liu
"Characterization of bioactive natural products from human microbiota and myxobacteria"
Lilu studied Food Quality and Safety from 2016-2020 at Northeast Agricultural University, China. She obtained her master degree in Microbiology and Biochemical Pharmacy from Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2023. From 2024, she worked as a PhD student at the Helmholtz Institute for Pharmaceutical Research Saarland in the department of Microbial Natural Products under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Rolf Müller. Lilu’s research interest is to identify and characterize bioactive natural products for potential pharmaceutical application.
Pathoblocker als neuartige Antiinfektiva
Huilin Zhan
“Exploring inter-kingdom cross-talk as a new strategy for the modulation of Pseudomonas aeruginosa infections”
Huilin Zhan obtained her bachelor’s degree in Pharmaceutical Science from Technological University Dublin in 2022. Afterwards, she graduated with a MRes degree in Biomedical Research at Imperial College London in 2023. During the same year, Huilin joined the Antiviral and Antivirulence Drugs group, led by Prof. Dr. Martin Empting, with joint supervision from Prof. Dr. Gabriela Krasteva-Christ at Saarland University, embarking on her PhD. Her research project is focused on exploring inter-kingdom cross-talk as a new strategy for the modulation of Pseudomonas aeruginosa infections. Specifically, she will evaluate the effect of potent Quorum sensing Inhibitors on the TRPM5-Alkylquinolone host-pathogen interactions.
Angeliki Vgenopoulou
“Design and synthesis of novel inhibitors of LasB”
Angeliki earned her Bachelor’s degree in Chemistry from the University of Patras (UoP), Greece, specialising in organic synthesis and the synthesis of small molecules. During her Erasmus exchange at Cardiff University, she worked in the field of Green Chemistry. She then completed her Master’s degree in Medicinal Chemistry at the Faculty of Pharmacy (UoP), where her thesis focused on newly synthesised artemisinin hybrids with triazole linkers. During her Erasmus+ traineeship at HIPS, she worked on the synthesis of novel IspD inhibitors targeting the MEP pathway. Since September 2023, Angeliki has been pursuing her PhD under the supervision of Prof. Anna Hirsch. Her research focuses on the design and synthesis of novel elastase B inhibitors. During her PhD, she also undertook a secondment at BioSolveIT to expand on her computational chemistry experience and she completed a two-month research stay at the H3D Foundation in Cape Town, South Africa where she worked on the synthesis of novel antimalarials.
Arzneimittelabgabe und biologische Barrieren
Nikolay Kirilov
"In vivo testing of novel drug delivery systems in murine infection models"
Nikolay Kirilov earned his Master’s degree in Medicine from the Medical University of Varna, Bulgaria in 2023. During his studies, he worked as an intern in the medical microbiology laboratories of the St. Anna and St. Marina hospitals in Varna and as a teaching assistant for the Department of Microbiology and Virology of the university. In 2022, he participated in a 10-month Erasmus+ exchange program, during which he worked at the university hospital of the University of Coimbra, Portugal. Since January 2024, Nikolay has been a PhD student at the Institute for Medical Microbiology and Hygiene, Homburg, under the supervision of Prof. Markus Bischoff and Prof. Matthias W. Laschke. His research centers around the development and utilization of infection models with Gram-positive bacteria for the preclinical efficacy testing of new antimicrobial drug candidates. As part of his PhD project, Nikolay spent 2 months at the Institute of Biological Sciences of the Federal University of Minas Gerais, Brazil, where he studied the effects of helminth-induced immunomodulation on the host’s antibacterial defense against local and systemic Staphylococcus aureus infections.
Prajwal Punnamraju
“Development and application of bioanalytical workflows in the context of microbiome and infection research”
Prajwal obtained a Bachelor´s degree from the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Pune, where he mainly studied Organic Chemistry. He then pursued his Master´s studies from the same Institute in the field of lipid biochemistry. In his thesis, entitled ‘Screening for lysophosphatidylserine lipases in mouse tissues’, Prajwal extensively applied biochemical and mass spectrometry techniques to simplify the identification of lipases that are potential disease biomarkers. He is currently working on a collaborative project between the HIPS and the medical campus of Saarland University in Homburg, The goal is to develop and apply bioanalytical workflows to study pharmacokinetics of drug candidates and novel psychoactive substances in zebrafish models.
Chathuri Sodimanage
"Bacterial biofilm targeting with elasticity controlled nanoaparticles"
Chathuri earned her Bachelor of Pharmacy (B.Pharm) degree from General Sir John Kotelawala Defence University, Sri Lanka, in 2019. Her undergraduate thesis investigated the in vitro antibacterial activity of aqueous extracts of Celtis timorensis. After graduation, she joined the Sri Lanka Institute of Nanotechnology (SLINTEC) as a Scientist, where she worked on pharmaceutical development and characterization projects in collaboration with industrial partners. This role provided extensive experience with advanced analytical instrumentation and pharmaceutical nanoformulations. In 2021, Chathuri was selected for the Erasmus Mundus Joint Master’s Degree in Nanomedicine for Drug Delivery at Université Paris Cité, France. She completed her Master’s thesis at Université d’Angers in 2023, focusing on the development of lipid nanoparticles for oral peptide delivery. Later that year, she was granted a PhD position in the TALENTS Graduate Program, co-funded by Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions and the University of Saarland. Since November 2023, she has been pursuing her doctoral research at Saarland University, focusing on elasticity-controlled nanoparticles and their penetration behavior in biological hydrogel barriers.
Marlon Gancino
"Extracellular vesicles as pathobiochemical regulators and antibacterial delivery vehicles"
Marlon Gancino is a biomedical engineer who graduated from Yachay Tech University, Ecuador, in February 2020. During his undergraduate studies, he conducted his thesis research in nanomedicine at the Faculty of Biological Sciences of the University of Concepción, Chile. In 2021, Marlon joined, as a scholarship holder, the Erasmus Mundus Master's program Nanomedicine for Drug Delivery, coordinated by Université Paris Cité, France. During the program, he specialized in strategies for developing nanomedicines for non-clinical applications. In 2023, he completed his master's degree with a thesis on vaccine development conducted at Virometix AG, a clinical stage biotech company based in Zurich, Switzerland. Currently, Marlon is pursuing a PhD as a fellow of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie doctoral program TALENTS in Pharmaceutical Sciences at Saarland University, Germany. His research focuses on drug delivery and biological barriers, with particular emphasis on the role of extracellular vesicles in host–pathogen communication. His scientific interests lie in advancing the clinical translation of nanomedicines and biopharmaceutical technologies to address unmet medical needs. He is especially interested in bridging research and therapeutic innovation, with a long-term ambition of helping shape the future direction of the pharmaceutical industry.
Walaa M. Metwally Abdelghany
“Next-generation editing and interventional reshaping of skin microbiota in health and disease – paving the way to the postantibiotic era in medicine"
Walaa studied Pharmacy at Alexandria University in Egypt, where she completed her master’s degree in Pharmaceutical Sciences in June 2023. Since October 2023, she has been a PhD student at the Helmholtz Institute for Pharmaceutical Research Saarland in the Department of Drug Delivery Across Biological Barriers of Prof. Claus-Michael Lehr. Her areas of interest in research are biomedical applications with a focus on 3D printing technology as well as the development of novel delivery systems for combating infectious diseases. She is currently working on the reconstruction of reliable in vitro skin models aiming to replace animal experimentation.
TALENTS Assembly June 2026
Grant Agreement No. 101081463
