Lab Members

Diana joined the team in December 2012 as an admin assistant for Katja and the team. She has an education in Industrial Business Management Assistant and worked at Hewlett Packard and Agilent as secretary and assistant of a district manager. She joined the department of child and adolescent psychiatry at the University Hospital of the Eberhard Karls University Tübingen in 2006 as secretary of the assistant medical director, for the last three years as secretary and assistant of the head of the department (medical director) of child and adolescent psychiatry. In her free time, she does a lot of voluntary work in her community. Currently she organizes various events to enable restoration of Entringen’s more than 400 year old Zehntscheuer. Also she is a certified Tour Guide in the Natural Park Schönbuch. She likes working in her garden, travelling, reading and cooking as well.

Simone received her Bachelor of Science in Biotechnology at Furtwangen University of Applied Sciences in 2010 and wrote her thesis on regenerative cardiovascular research at the University Hospital, Tübingen. She then moved across Germany to the Baltic Sea to study Medical Biotechnology at the University Rostock for her Masters Degree. She joined the Schenke-Layland lab in March 2012 to write her master thesis on the identification of protein patterns in developing human heart valves, which she completed in September of 2012. Simone is now the lab manager in Tübingen. In her free time, she enjoys running and hiking in nature, loves reading Romans, and playing parlor games with family and friends.
Publication List

Julia is the group leader for Raman imaging and microspectroscopy in the Schenke-Layland lab, as well as a group leader at the NMI in Reutlingen. Julia studied Pharmacy at the Albert-Ludwig-University Freiburg and received her approbation in 2014. In May 2015 she joined the Schenke-Layland lab at the University of Tübingen for her PhD. In her thesis she was working on a DFG project on cryopreservation of heart valves using Raman Spectroscopy to detect ECM damage. In her free time she enjoys skiing, sports, spending time with friends and travelling.
Publication List
Awards
Travel Award, DGMB, Annual Meeting of the German Society for Matrix Biology 2017, Cologne, Germany
Finalist for the Young Investigator Award, DGMB, Annual Meeting of the German Society for Matrix Biology 2019, Cologne, Germany

Abi studied Cell and Molecular Biology (HBSc) at the University of Toronto, where she completed her Bachelor thesis with Dr. Plotnikov studying focal adhesion formation and cell migration on substrates of different stiffnesses. She completed her MSc at McGill University with Dr. Yamanaka, focusing on how cell-ECM and cell-cell adhesions influence stem cell differentiation. Abi joined the Schenke-Layland lab in September 2019 as a PhD student in the DELIVER project working on the development of insulin-producing cells and ECM cues. In her free time, Abi can be found by the water reading childrens books, running away from ducks, or swimming at the pool.
Publication List
Awards
Best Poster Presentation Award, DGMB, Annual Meeting of the German Society for Matrix Biology 2021

Teresa studied Biomedical Engineering at Politecnico di Milano, graduating in Bioengineering for Cells, Tissues and Biotechnology. During the Master’s thesis she joined the Mechanobiology Lab of Prof. Raimondi and worked, under the guidance of Prof. Jacchetti, on the improvement and characterization of 3D microstructured scaffolds (NICHOIDS) as new therapeutic devices. She recently joined Prof. Schenke-Layland Lab at Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen as a PhD candidate within the MSCA Doctoral Network flIMAGIN3D project. Her work is now focused on the investigation of the role of hypoxia and tissue stiffness on cell metabolism and single cell mechanobiology in cardiovascular models through FLIM and FLIM-based techniques. In her free time, she loves hiking, skiing and reading.
Awards
Poster Award, EMIM2025, European Molecular Imaging Meeting 2025, Bilbao, Spain
Master Thesis Award 2023 ‘Franco Maria Montevecchi - Politecnico di Torino’ issued by the GNB (National Group of Bioengineering).
Master Thesis Award ESB-ITA2023, finalist.

Emanuel achieved a bachelor's and a master’s degree in applied chemistry at Reutlingen university. In his master’s degree he focused on multivariate data analysis and design of experiments. He joined the Schenke-Layland Lab in June 2022. His PhD is focused on machine learning approaches to comprehend microbiome-host interactions based on non-invasive imaging techniques. In his free time Emanuel likes to play handball, going to the gym or hanging out with his friends.

Daniel is an exchange student from Colombia. He studied Process Engineering at EAFIT University and at the University of Applied Science Bremerhaven in the program of Process Engineering and Energy Technology. On April 26th, 2011, Daniel completed his bachelor thesis on the non-invasive visualization of extracellular matrix from aortic valves using Raman spectroscopy, with a special focus on collagen structures. Daniel joined the Schenke-Layland lab in July 2010 and is now working on his Masters degree. In his free time, Daniel enjoys swimming and diving.
Publication List

Sema studied Nanoscience at the University of Tuebingen for both her Bachelors and Masters degrees. She joined the Schenke-Layland lab in 2023 for her Master thesis during which she studied CAR T cells. She stayed in the lab as a PhD student to participate in the ENDO-RELIEF project investigating the pathogenesis of endometriosis in the group of Dr. Julia Marzi. Her work is focused on using in vitro platforms and spectral imaging to examine the impact of the extracellular matrix and external stimuli on endometriosis invasiveness and proliferation. In her free time she enjoys doing (bre arts as well as starting a new crafting project every so often.

Aleksandra (Sasha) studied chemical engineering at Mendeleev University of Chemical Technology of Russia. After graduation she worked on the development of scaffolds for tissue engineering constructions at the Institute of Photonic Technologies (Russia). Sasha joined the Schenke-Layland lab in April 2023 and now works on her doctoral thesis within a framework of the graduate school GRK-2543 “Intraoperative Multisensory Tissue Differentiation in Oncology” funded by DFG. She uses marker-independent imaging techniques such as Raman microspectroscopy and fluorescence-lifetime imaging microscopy to visualize and track alterations in tissues and cells. She spends her free time learning fencing, getting stuck in German trains, and playing Dungeons&Dragons.

Kathrin studied Materials Science and Engineering with the focus on biomaterials and polymers at the Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuernberg. She studied Chemistry with the focus on single-molecule spectroscopy at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main. She received the Master of Science (M.Sc.) in both courses. She joined the Max Planck Institute for polymer resarch for her master thesis where she works in the field of enhanced Raman spectroscopy to study the degradation of PbS quantum dot. Kathrin joined the Schenke-Layland lab in October 2017 to work on her PhD. Her work focuses on the development of a heart valve test system and the further development of a biofunctional heart valve replacement. In her spare time, Kathrin enjoys travelling, drawing, fitness, riding and spending time with friends.
Publication List

Julia holds a Bachelor's degree in Medical Engineering from the Universities of Stuttgart and Tübingen and a degree in Biomedical Technologies from the University of Tübingen. She is working on her PhD thesis on the observation of tumor-immune interactions with non-invasive imaging techniques. She uses Raman microspectroscopy and fluorescence lifetime imaging for the investigation of lymphoid and tumor organ-on-chip platforms. In her free time, she spends a lot of time with her dog, always intends to do sport but ends up not doing it and dances.
Publication List
Awards
Poster Award, EMIM2025, European Molecular Imaging Meeting 2025, Bilbao, Spain