Head of Research Group

Univ.-Prof. Dr. Silja Weßler
AG-Leiterin, Professorin für Mikrobiologie

Hellbrunnerstrasse 34, 5020 Salzburg

Tel.: +43 (0) 662 / 8044-7210
E-Mail:

Senior Scientist

Mag. Dr. Gernot Posselt
Senior Scientist

Hellbrunnerstrasse 34, 5020 Salzburg

Tel.: +43 (0) 662 / 8044-7211
E-Mail:

Technischer Assistent

Christian Daniel Ferner
Technischer Assistent

Hellbrunnerstrasse 34, 5020 Salzburg

Tel.: +43 (0) 662 / 8044-7215
E-Mail:

PhD Students

Marina Cañadas Ortega
PhD student

Hellbrunnerstrasse 34, 5020 Salzburg

Tel.: +43 (0) 662 /8044-7212
E-Mail:

Marina studied Biomedical Engineering at Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Spain, with a semester abroad at the University of Technology of Sydney focusing on tissue regeneration. In 2019 she received a master in Nanomedicine and Structural Biology from the Grenoble Institute of Technology in France. During this period, she worked for the Research and Development department of Becton Dickinson. After finishing her studies, she returned to Madrid and worked as a research assistant in the Bioengineering department of her former university with 3D tissue cultures, microfluidics and imaging techniques. She joined the research group of Silja Wessler in 2021 to carry out her PhD as part of the Smart Specialization Center „Cancer Cluster Salzburg“ with a focus on the establishment of gastric and colon organoids to gain insights into the relationship of microorganisms and colorectal cancer development.

Publications

Sebastian Diechler
PhD student

Hellbrunnerstrasse 34, 5020 Salzburg

Tel.: +43 (0) 662 / 8044-7216
E-Mail:

Sebastian studied Medical Biology at the Paris-Lodron University of Salzburg and obtained his Master’s Degree in June 2018. During his Master thesis in the group of Silja Weßler, he investigated different variants and mutants of pathogenic factors expressed by clinical Helicobacter pylori isolates. Sebastian was selected as a member of the PhD program ICA (Immunity in Cancer and Allergy) and started with his PhD project in July 2018, focusing on the the regulation of signaling pathways in gastric epithelial cells and B-cells.

Publications

Saruchi Wadhwa
PhD student

Hellbrunnerstrasse 34, 5020 Salzburg

Tel.: +43 (0) 662 / 8044-7212
E-Mail:

Saruchi completed her undergraduate degree in microbiology from Gargi College, University of Delhi, India, in 2015. She was enrolled in the Dr. B. R. Ambedkar Center for Biomedical Research (A.C.B.R.), University of Delhi, India, for the master’s degree program in biomedical sciences, which was completed in 2017. She worked as a Research Fellow at Translational Health Science and Technology Institute, India, with a focus on the role of type II toxin-antitoxin systems in Mycobacterium tuberculosis persistence. She then worked as a senior research fellow at the CSIR Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (IGIB), India, where she characterized the novel mutation in the PRKG2 gene responsible for acromesomelic skeletal dysplasia. As part of a three-month EMBO exchange program, she also worked at the University of Helsinki, Finland, where she learned gene editing of patient-specific mutations using CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing technology in patient-derived iPSCs.