Infos für
Direkt zu
Fakultäten
Team
Principal Investigator
Kathrin Ulrich received her PhD in 2017 at Heidelberg University where she worked on oxidative protein modifications in African trypanosomes. As a postdoc, she joined the lab of Ursula Jakob at the University of Michigan to study redox-regulated chaperones and their roles in cell stress responses. In Oct 2022, she became Juniorprofessor for Cellular Biochemistry at the Institute of Biochemistry at the University of Cologne working on redox regulation of chaperones and proteostasis. In Oct 2025, she joined Saarland University as Professor for Molecular and Cellular Biology.
kathrin.ulrich@uni-saarland.de
+49 (0)681-302-4730
Staff scientist
Frank Breinig studied Biology at Saarland University, where he received his PhD in 2002. His research comprises the molecular biology of yeast viral killer toxins, as well as the development of recombinant yeast as a delivery platform for other biologically active compounds into mammalian cells. In 2018, he obtained his habilitation in Microbiology and became Privatdozent. Frank is also actively involved in teaching molecular and cell biology and microbiology.
fb@microbiol.uni-sb.de
+49 (0)681-302-2211
Secretary
Elsa Courio graduated with a trinational M.A. in “Communication and Cross-Border Cooperation” in 2023, a programme jointly offered by the Universities of Lorraine, Saarland and Luxembourg. As Secretary for Molecular and Cell Biology, she supports the team in its day-to-day administrative work. She helps to ensure that administrative processes run smoothly and assists with the organization and coordination of the team’s daily activities.
elsa.courio@uni-saarland.de
+49 (0)681-302-4712
Technical assistants
Sabine Pappert
Elke Kiel
PhD students
Lara Knaup completed her MS at the Institute of Medical Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the University of Greifswald in Apr 2023 and has started her PhD in Jun2023. She investigates the cellular redox regualtion of the stress-sensing chaperone Get3 and focuses on the interactome to unravel client binding and the interaction with the cellular proteostasis network.
lknaup@uni-koeln.de
Shayan Motiei conducted his Master's thesis at the Institute of Biochemistry, University of Cologne, where he studied subunits of the respiratory chain complex I as sensors for oxidative damage in the mitochondrial matrix. In December 2023, he joined the Ulrich lab and began his PhD journey. He is investigating the role of the redox-regulated chaperone, ASNA-1/TRC40 in human cells and in the nematode worm C. elegans. His primary focus is on elucidating the role of ASNA-1 as a hub connecting redox and protein homeostasis under stress conditions and during aging.
Katharina Utschakowski studied the Master Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine at the University of Cologne and did her Master thesis in the Ulrich lab studying the so far unknown stress-induced chaperone function of a mitochondrial protein. While she initially worked on the structural and functional characterization of the protein, she focuses now on the cellular impact of the protein on mitochondrial proteostasis and cell viability.
Postdoc
Dr. Achim Bauer
achim.bauer@uni-saarland.de