REICHERT LAB

Principal Investigator

Maximilian Reichert

I studied Medicine in Heidelberg and at the Technical University of Munich. I graduated with my thesis focusing on PI3K signaling and cell cycle progression in pancreatic cancer (PDAC) with summa cum laude. During my postdoctoral fellowship at the University in Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA, I discovered novel mechanisms of transcriptional regulation of PDAC cell plasticity using 3D culture models. After my return to Germany, I transferred my knowledge of advanced 3D culture systems successfully to cancer patients generating a cancer patient-derived organoid repository at TUM.

We are Groot. – Groot, Guardians of the Galaxy, MCU

Lab manager

Laura Schmidleitner

After receiving my bachelor’s and master’s degree in biology from the University of Regensburg, I did my PhD at the Helmholtz Center Munich and the Technical University Munich. I investigated the role of the epithelial-mesenchymal transition to identify factors that play a role in the progression of breast cancer. Since 2021, I manage the lab located in Garching and support the other scientists of our group.

Be grateful.

Postdoc

Valentina Leone

I obtained from the University of Pavia (Italy) my Bachelor’s degree in Biotechnology (2010) and my Master’s degree in Medical and Pharmaceutical Biotechnologies (2013). I completed my Ph.D. studies in 2020 as a shared Ph.D. student between the Helmholtz Zentrum München and the German Cancer Center (DKFZ, Heidelberg), and worked afterward as a Postdoc at the DKFZ, focusing my research on in vivo models to address the role of oxidative stress and on the function of B cells in the development of non-alcoholic fatty liver steatohepatitis (NASH), liver fibrosis and NASH-induced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).
I joined Reichert’s lab as a Postdoc scientist in the summer of 2022. My actual project is dealing with the study on the spatial and temporal resolution of intratumor heterogeneity in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), using patients’ derived organoids from primary and metastatic tumors, alone or in co-culture with cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs). Will be also used scRNA-Seq from isolated PDAC cells, spatial proteomics and transcriptomics from fixed tumor specimens, and ex vivo organotypic tumor tissue cultures. These approaches will be useful to predict patient-specific clinical responses to diverse therapies and to find novel biomarkers and targetable pathways against primary and metastatic PDAC.

Per aspera ad astra.

Postdoc

Martin Troßbach

Having received my BSc and MSc from the Technical University of Munich in the Molecular Biotechnology program, I moved to Stockholm to obtain a PhD from the KTH Royal Institute of Technology. I worked at the Science for Life laboratory, an institute jointly run by KTH, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholms Universitet and Uppsala Universitet, and got training in droplet microfluidics at the interface of engineering, biotechnology and medical research. My thesis work focused in large parts on droplet cell and microtissue culture.
In the Reichert lab I am co-coordinating the establishment of a multicentric organoid biobank in the German Cancer Consortium (DKTK) network, while aspiring to leverage microfluidics to further streamline our organoid pipeline.

We are stuck with technology when what we really want is just stuff that works. – Douglas Adams

Postdoc

Janine Murr

Growing up in Munich, I initially found myself drawn to the business sector during high school, largely due to a lack of interest in science. However, everything changed in my final year when my biology teacher’s enthusiasm and insight opened my eyes to the wonders of the natural world. This propelled me to pursue both my Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Biology at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität in Munich, where I began delving into the complexities of human and cellular biology. My academic journey was completed with a thesis at the Helmholtz Zentrum München, investigating the Epstein-Barr Virus and its effect on cancer patients. Two significant cancer diagnoses within my family in that time established a personal motivation to further develop myself in a cancer researcher. This drove me to embark on a Ph.D. journey under the mentorship of Günter Schneiders Lab at TUM, where I’ve dedicated myself to understanding the intricacies of pancreatic cancer subtypes and investigating novel drug treatments using cutting-edge techniques like high-throughput screening and omics approaches. Since 2024, I joined the Reichert Group. Here, my focus has shifted even more onwards to translational research, bridging the gap between laboratory discoveries and clinical applications. To reach a more personalized treatment strategies for cancer patients, high-throughput drug screening methodologies using patient-derived organoids will be established. Combined with genetic alterations or driver mutations, this information will gain further knowledge in a future personalized treatment option and drug development in the fight for cancer.

Cancer may have chosen the battlefield, but it has picked the wrong opponent.

Postdoc

Raphela Ranjan

I joined the group in 2019 May as a PhD candidate. I did my bachelor’s degree in Biomedical Sciences (2016) at the Sri Ramachandra University, Chennai (India) and my Master’s degree in Molecular Medicine (2018) at the Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg (Germany). During my Master’s, I developed chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) xenografts to model various entities of cancer for functional studies of cancer hallmarks. During my PhD I am focusing on establishing the CAM model to study the interaction of tumor cells and Cancer associated fibroblasts in the regulation of metastasis by in ovo CRISPR/Cas9 dropout screening.

Success is a decision.

PhD candidate

Aristeidis Papargyriou

I received my master’s degree from the University of Patras, Greece in Applied Biochemistry and Biotechnology. In my master thesis I studied the role of Src kinases and microRNAs in the pathogenesis of breast cancer. I joined the lab in October 2018 as joint PhD student between the Reichert lab and the Scheel lab (HMGU) to work on Targeting Epithelial Plasticity in PDAC. My current project focus is laid on cellular plasticity with emphasis in the generation of advanced 3D organoid models to decipher and target PDAC heterogeneity.

Science for the improvement of human lives – or in a funny way: branch strong!

PhD candidate

Aashreya Ravichandra

I completed my Bachelor’s in Biology and my Master’s in Biotechnology from CUNY Hunter College in 2018 before working as a research technician for 2 years at the Schwabe Lab at Columbia University. I started working in Max Reichert’s lab in April 2021 and my project focuses on understanding how cancer associated fibroblast (CAF) plasticity and heterogeneity alters tumor vascularization and endothelial cells in intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma, a rare cancer of the liver.

Science never solves a problem without creating ten more.

PhD candidate

Akul Shastri

I completed my masters at the LMU Munich during which I had the opportunity to work on a research course in the Reichert lab, which was based on understanding the individualistic effect of specific growth factors and agonists on the morphology of PDAC organoids in vitro. I then stayed on as a master’s student with the lab. During my thesis, we were able to define a media composition which would enable branching morphogenesis in patient-derived organoid (PDOs) lines. This would allow us to understand the pathways that are involved in the phenomenon of branching morphogenesis in PDOs.

MD candidate

Arlett Schäfer

I study human medicine at the TUM. My MD project in the Reichert lab is the analysis of treatment-imposed genotypic and phenotypic alterations using the translational model of organoids.

The proper function of man is to live, not to exist. – Jack London

MD candidate

Sophia Schirmer

I investigate the genetic and morphological heterogeneity in murine derived 3D PDAC organoids with the aim of contributing to the development of personalized, targeted chemotherapy. I analyse different phenotypes arising from murine lineages with different mutations, hereby also taking their interaction with desmoplasic stroma into account.

Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood. Now is the time to understand more, so we can fear less. – Marie Curie

Research Associate

Lisa Fricke

I did my Master in Nutrition and Biomedicine at TUM. Since February 2020 I am working for clinical studies at MRI. Within the SFB1321 I take care of the samples for pancreatic cancer patient-derived organoids and provide the link between the clinic and the research lab.

Never stop exploring.

Technical Assistant

Sabrina Wenderoth

I completed my training as a biology laboratory assistant at the company “Sanofi” in Frankfurt am Main. I started working in Professor Reichert´s lab in July 2023 and I am responsible for the organoid biobank. I isolate and cultivate organoids from patients’ pancreatic tumor tissue.

Never a failure, always a lesson.