Prof. Dr. Christos Gatsogiannis, Principal Investigator

Address: Center for Soft Nanoscience (SoN) 

Busso-Peus-Str. 10, D-48149 Münster

Office: 110.001

Phone: +49 251 83 34411

E-mail: Christos.Gatsogiannis(at)uni-muenster.de

Twitter: @gatsogia

Curriculum Vitae

Dr. rer. nat Anja Blanque, Application Specialist  cryo-EM SoN

Address: Center for Soft Nanoscience (SoN)

Busso-Peus-Str. 10, D-48149 Münster 

Office: 100.018

Phone: +49 251 83 34407

E-mail: blanquea(at)uni-muenster.de

Since graduating as a BTA in 1994, Anja has worked in various institutes at the University of Osnabrück and the University Hospital Münster, most recently with Prof. Schillers and Prof. Linke. During this time, she used her experience in biochemistry as well as light-, confocal- and atomic force microscopy to support cancer- and muscle research. Anja also gained a diploma in biology at the University of Osnabrück and completed her doctorate in 2015 in the group of Prof. Missler at the Institute for Anatomy and Molecular Neurobiology in Münster, implementing conventional and spectroscopic EM-methods. As facility staff she uses her knowledge of conventional EM and modern cryo-techniques to ensure the smooth running of our cryo-EM facility and train new users together with the facility manager.

Dr. rer. nat Verena Hofschröer

Address: Center for Soft Nanoscience (SoN)

Busso-Peus-Str. 10, D-48149 Münster 

Office: 110.002

Phone: +49 251 83 34444

E-mail: verena.hofschroeer(at)uni-muenster.de

Verena studied biomedical sciences at the University of Münster and the Hasselt University (Belgium). Her PhD thesis focused on the nanomechanical properties of human endothelial cells with regard to blood-pressure dependent effects. In 2014 she joined Prof. Albrecht Schwab's laboratory to study adhesive tumor cell-cell interaction forces and the regulatory role of ion transporters and pH played therein. This included an internship at the Radboud University Nijmegen (the Netherlands). After being a ‘Nachwuchsprofessorin’ at the University of Applied Sciences in Münster, Verena decided to be the scientific manager of the MSCA ITN project “pH and ion transport in cancer” pHioniC. She recently performed a 18-month training program at the University of Münster to professionalize her skills about science and university management. Verena joined our group in June 2024 to assist with the scientific coordination of the Topical Program 'CheMTraP' and the preparatory phase for a CRC application.

Dr. rer. nat. Björn Udo Klink, Senior Scientist

Address: Center for Soft Nanoscience (SoN) 

Busso-Peus-Str. 10, D-48149 Münster 

Office: 110.018.2

Phone: +49 251 83 34465

E-mail: Bjoern.Klink(at)uni-muenster.de

Björn's scientific career began in 2001 at the Max Planck Institute in Dortmund, where he first learned and applied biophysical methods in his diploma thesis and then combined them with X-ray crystallography in his doctoral thesis. His growing interest in structural biology led him to six institutes in Germany, England and the USA before he joined Prof. Dr. Stefan Raunser's group back at the Max Planck Institute in Dortmund in 2013. There Björn learned the technique of electron microscopy. With his acquired practical experience in cryo-EM, crystallographic and biophysical techniques, he has solved several novel structures. His great passion includes understanding the function and architecture of large hetero-oligomeric protein complexes.

Karthik Subramaniam Kalyankumar (M.Sc.), Doctoral student

Adresse: Center for Soft Nanoscience (SoN) 

Busso-Peus-Str. 1, 48149 Münster 

Office: 110.018.2

Telefon: +49 251 83 34465

E-mail address: kalyanku(at)uni-muenster.de

Karthik Subramaniam obtained both his bachelor's and master's degree from the Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning (Deemed to be University) in India. During his master’s thesis, Karthik worked in the group of Dr.S.Venkatesh to study about the Gene-Amyloid relationships in Huntington’s Disease (a Neurodegenerative Disease) using Yeast as a Model Organism. Karthik’s work here will focus on the structural analysis of the latrotoxins, neurotoxins produced by the black widow spider.

Maximilian Rüttermann (M.Sc.), Doctoral student

Address: Center for Soft Nanoscience (SoN) 

Busso-Peus-Str. 10, D-48149 Münster 

Office: 110.018.2

Phone: +49 251 83 34425

E-mail address: Maximilian.Ruettermann(at)uni-muenster.de

Twitter: @RuetterM

Maximilian studied biochemistry at the Ruhr University Bochum. He carried out his Bachelor's thesis at the Center for Solvation Science (ZEMOS) in the group of Prof. Martina Havenith-Newen. In doing so, he dealt with the fundamental solvation dynamics within model membranes, similar to those of biological cells. For his Master thesis, Maximilian joined the labs of Prof. Thomas Günther-Pomorski and Prof. Ralf Erdmann on the lipid flippase activity of peroxisomal membrane proteins.

Athina Drakonaki (M.Sc) , Doctoral student

Address: Center for Soft Nanoscience (SoN) 

Busso-Peus-Str. 10, D-48149 Münster 

Office: 100.017

Phone: +49 251 83 34419

E-mail address: drakonak(at)uni-muenster.de

Athina obtained both her Bachelor's and Master's degrees from the University of Crete in Greece. She is a biochemist with a background in metabolomics analysis. During her Master's thesis, Athina worked part-time in Prof. Hartmut Michel's group at the MPI in Frankfurt am Main. In Frankfurt, her interest in structural biology grew, which led her to join our team as a PhD student. Athina's work will focus on the structural analysis of the p97 complex and its associated cofactors, which she is carrying out as part of the Collaborative Research Centre 1430 based at the University of Duisburg Essen.

Cole Bourque (M.Sc) , Doctoral student

Address: Center for Soft Nanoscience (SoN) 

Busso-Peus-Str. 10, D-48149 Münster 

Office: 110.018.2

Phone: +49 251 83 34425

E-mail: Cole.Bourque(at)uni-muenster.de

At Colorado State University in the United States, Cole earned his bachelor's degree in zoology. During his studies, he discovered his enthusiasm for biochemistry. So, Cole began his master's studies at the Ruhr University in Bochum, Germany, with a focus on molecular medicine. Cole completed his master's thesis in the laboratory of Prof. Dr. Gatsogiannis, investigating the structure of the yeast protein complex Dam1 and its associated proteins Bim1 and Bik1, which are crucial for the process of mitosis. Currently, Cole is continuing the work begun during his Master's thesis as a doctoral student with Prof. Dr. Gatsogiannis. The project is part of the Collaborative Research Centre 1430 at the University of Duisburg-Essen and focuses on continuing his work on the Dam1 complex and its associated proteins Bim1 and Bik1 to better understand their functions and interaction mechanisms.

Simone Neuwirth, Laboratory Technician

Address: Center for Soft Nanoscience (SoN)

Busso-Peus-Str. 10, D-48149 Münster 

Office: 110.040

Phone: +49 251 83 34484

E-mail address: simone.neuwirth(at)uni-muenster.de

Simone successfully completed her training as a chemical laboratory technician at a large biotechnology company in 2018. She gained her first professional experience as a Research Development Technician in in-vitro test development for infectious serology. Looking for a new challenge and further development, she landed with us and supports our team as a technical, very motivated employee. In addition to her work in the lab, she is doing a distance learning course in molecular biology.

George Broutzakis (M.Sc), Guest Doctoral student

Center for Soft Nanoscience (SoN) 

Busso-Peus-Str. 10, D-48149 Münster

Office: 110.018.2

Phone: +49 251 83 34425

E-mail address:

George received his Bachelor’s degree in Biology from the University of Athens, with an emphasis on Molecular Biology and Genetics. During his undergraduate thesis, George developed a novel system to identify small cyclic peptides that can salvage misfolded membrane proteins in the lab of Dr. G. Skretas at the National Hellenic Research Foundation. He is currently pursuing a PhD degree in the laboratory of Prof. G. Diallinas in the University of Athens, where he studies membrane protein trafficking and structure-function relationships. To aid in this, he is currently visiting Prof. Gatsogiannis’s lab to learn Cryo-Electronic Microscopy and apply ​it to one of the best-studied eukaryotic transporters, UapA.

Eda Şamiloğlu Tengirşek, Fellow

Center for Soft Nanoscience (SoN) 

Busso-Peus-Str. 10, D-48149 Münster

Office: 110.018.2

E-mail address: amilolut(at)uni-muenster.de

Eda received her bachelor’s degree in molecular biology and genetics from the University of Istanbul. For her master’s thesis, she worked in the Computational Structural Biology group at the Izmir Biomedicine and Genome Center (IBG). Her master's research allowed her to rethink cell biology from a three-dimensional perspective, and she became particularly interested in CryoEM. She currently visiting Prof. Gatsogiannis’s lab as a pre-doctoral intern. She will work on establishing a CryoET image processing workflow during her internship.

Dionysios Ermis Geladas, ERASMUS Student

Center for Soft Nanoscience (SoN) 

Busso-Peus-Str. 10, D-48149 Münster

Office: 110.018.2

E-mail address: geladas(at)uni-muenster.de

Ermis completed his bachelor's degree in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Crete. During his bachelor's thesis, he studied the biopolymer PHB. Currently, Ermis is studying in the laboratory of Prof. Dr. G. Tsiotis at the University of Crete. He is trying to characterize the structure and composition of PHB granules in Pseudomonas sp. phDV1. To achieve this goal, Ermis joined us as an Erasmus student to learn and apply the method of cryo-electron microscopy.

Mattis Bollmann , Student

Address: Center for Soft Nanoscience (SoN) 

Busso-Peus-Str. 10, 48149 Münster 

Office: 110.040

Mattis received his Bachelor's degree in Biochemistry from the Georg-August University Göttingen. During his Bachelor's thesis in the field of biomolecular chemistry at the Department of Prof. Dr. Steinem he contributed to the "Living Foam"-Project which addresses the development of artificial tissue structures. Currently Mattis is enrolled at the Heinrich-Heine University for his Masters degree in Molecular biomedicine. During his Internship and Master's thesis at the lab of Prof. Dr. Gatsogiannis he aims to learn Cryo-EM Microscopy and elucidate the structure of a known peroxisomal protein.