Department of Infectious Diseases, Respiratory Medicine and Critical Care

Sander

Contact

Contact

You can write directly a mail to Sander-lab(a)charite.de or use the contact form. Thank you very much for your message.

    Career

    Career

    If you are interested in one of our projects or in joining our team, please contact us.

    Publications

    Publications

    The complete bibliography of Prof. Dr. Leif Erik Sander is available at PubMed

    1. Vanshylla K, Tober-Lau P, Gruell H, Münn F, Eggeling R, Pfeifer N, Le NH, Landgraf I, Kurth F*, Sander LE*, Klein F*. Durability of omicron-neutralising serum activity after mRNA booster immunisation in older adults. Lancet Infect Dis. 2022;22(4):445–6. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1016/S1473-3099(22)00135-9
    2. Wang Z, Muecksch F, Muenn F, Cho A, Zong S, Raspe R, Ramos V, Johnson B, Ben Tanfous T, DaSilva J, Bednarski E, Guzman-Cardozo C, Turroja M, Millard KG, Tober-Lau P, Hillus D, Yao K-H, Shimeliovich I, Dizon J, Kaczynska A, Jankovic M, Gazumyan A, Oliveira TY, Caskey M, Bieniasz PD, Hatziioannou T, Kurth F*, Sander LE*, Nussenzweig MC*, Gaebler C*. Humoral immunity to SARS-CoV-2 elicited by combination COVID-19 vaccination regimens. J Exp Med. 2022;219(10). Available from: https://doi.org/10.1084/jem.20220826
    3. Gruell H, Vanshylla K, Tober-Lau P, Hillus D, Schommers P, Lehmann C, Kurth F*, Sander LE*, Klein F*. mRNA booster immunization elicits potent neutralizing serum activity against the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant. Nat Med. . Nature Medicine. 2022. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-021-01676-0
    4. Wendisch D*, Dietrich O*, Mari T*, Stillfried S v.*, Ibarra IL, Mittermaier M, Mache C, Chua RL, Knoll R, Timm S, Brumhard S, Krammer T, Zauber H, Hiller AL, Pascual-Reguant A, Mothes R, Bülow RD, Schulze J, Leipold AM, Djudjaj S, Erhard F, Geffers R, Pott F, Kazmierski J, Radke J, Pergantis P, Baßler K, Conrad C, Aschenbrenner AC, Sawitzki B, Landthaler M, Wyler E, Horst D, Hippenstiel S, Hocke A, Heppner FL, Uhrig A, Garcia C, Machleidt F, Herold S, Elezkurtaj S, Thibeault C, Witzenrath M, Cochain C, Suttorp N, Drosten C, Goffinet C, Kurth F, Schultze JL, Radbruch H, Ochs M, Eils R, Müller-Redetzky H, Hauser AE, Luecken MD, Theis FJ, Conrad C, Wolff T*, Boor P*, Selbach M*, Saliba A-E*, Sander LE*. SARS-CoV-2 infection triggers profibrotic macrophage responses and lung fibrosis. Cell. 2021. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2021.11.033
    5. Tober-Lau P*, Schwarz T*, Vanshylla K*, Hillus D*, Gruell H, Suttorp N, Landgraf I, Kappert K, Seybold J, Drosten C, Klein F, Kurth F*, Sander LE*#, Corman VM*. Long-term immunogenicity of BNT162b2 vaccination in older people and younger health-care workers. The Lancet Respiratory Medicine. 2021;9(11):e104-e105. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1016/S2213-2600(21)00456-2
    6. Hillus D*, Schwarz T*, Tober-Lau P, Vanshylla K, Hastor H, Thibeault C, Jentzsch S, Helbig ET, Lippert LJ, Tscheak P, Schmidt ML, Riege J, Solarek A, Kalle C v., Dang-Heine C, Gruell H, Kopankiewicz P, Suttorp N, Drosten C, Bias H, Seybold J, Klein F, Kurth F*, Corman VM*, Sander LE*. Safety, reactogenicity, and immunogenicity of homologous and heterologous prime-boost immunisation with ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 and BNT162b2: a prospective cohort study. The Lancet Respiratory Medicine. 2021. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1016/S2213-2600(21)00357-X
    7. Loyal L*, Braun J*, Henze L*, Kruse B*, Dingeldey M*, Reimer U*, Kern F*, Schwarz T*, Mangold M, Unger C, Dörfler F, Kadler S, Rosowski J, Gürcan K, Uyar-Aydin Z, Frentsch M, Kurth F, Schnatbaum K, Eckey M, Hippenstiel S, Hocke A, Müller MA, Sawitzki B, Miltenyi S, Paul F, Mall MA, Wenschuh H, Voigt S, Drosten C, Lauster R, Lachman N, Sander LE*, Corman VM*, Röhmel J*, Meyer-Arndt L*, Thiel A*, Giesecke-Thiel C*. Cross-reactive CD4+ T cells enhance SARS-CoV-2 immune responses upon infection and vaccination. Science. 2021. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abh1823
    8. Kreye J*, Reincke SM*, Kornau H-C, Sánchez-Sendin E, Corman VM, Liu H, Yuan M, Wu NC, Zhu X, Lee C-CD, Trimpert J, Höltje M, Dietert K, Stöffler L, Wardenburg N v., van Hoof S, Homeyer MA, Hoffmann J, Abdelgawad A, Gruber AD, Bertzbach LD, Vladimirova D, Li LY, Barthel PC, Skriner K, Hocke AC, Hippenstiel S, Witzenrath M, Suttorp N, Kurth F, Franke C, Endres M, Schmitz D, Jeworowski LM, Richter A, Schmidt ML, Schwarz T, Müller MA, Drosten C, Wendisch D, Sander LE, Osterrieder N, Wilson IA, Prüss H. A Therapeutic Non-self-reactive SARS-CoV-2 Antibody Protects from Lung Pathology in a COVID-19 Hamster Model. Cell. 2020;183(4):1058-1069.e19. Available from: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2020.09.049
    9. Schulte-Schrepping J*, Reusch N*, Paclik D*, Baßler K*, Schlickeiser S*, Zhang B*, Krämer B*, Krammer T*, Brumhard S*, Bonaguro L*, De Domenico E*, Wendisch D*, Grasshoff M, Kapellos TS, Beckstette M, Pecht T, Saglam A, Dietrich O, Mei HE, Schulz AR, Conrad C, Kunkel D, Vafadarnejad E, Xu C-J, Horne A, Herbert M, Drews A, Thibeault C, Pfeiffer M, Hippenstiel S, Hocke A, Müller-Redetzky H, Heim K-M, Machleidt F, Uhrig A, Bosquillon de Jarcy L, Jürgens L, Stegemann M, Glösenkamp CR, Volk H-D, Goffinet C, Landthaler M, Wyler E, Georg P, Schneider M, Dang-Heine C, Neuwinger N, Kappert K, Tauber R, Corman V, Raabe J, Kaiser KM, Vinh MT, Rieke G, Meisel C, Ulas T, Becker M, Geffers R, Witzenrath M, Drosten C, Suttorp N, Kalle C v., Kurth F, Händler K, Schultze JL*#, Aschenbrenner AC*#, Li Y*#, Nattermann J*#, Sawitzki B*#, Saliba A-E*#, Sander LE*#. Severe COVID-19 Is Marked by a Dysregulated Myeloid Cell Compartment. Cell. 2020;182(6):1419-1440.e23. Available from: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2020.08.001
    10. Braun J*, Loyal L*, Frentsch M*, Wendisch D, Georg P, Kurth F, Hippenstiel S, Dingeldey M, Kruse B, Fauchere F, Baysal E, Mangold M, Henze L, Lauster R, Mall MA, Beyer K, Röhmel J, Voigt S, Schmitz J, Miltenyi S, Demuth I, Müller MA, Hocke A, Witzenrath M, Suttorp N, Kern F, Reimer U, Wenschuh H, Drosten C, Corman VM, Giesecke-Thiel C*, Sander LE*, Thiel A*. SARS-CoV-2-reactive T cells in healthy donors and patients with COVID-19. Nature. 2020;587(7833):270–4. Available from: http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41586-020-2598-9
    11. Chua RL*, Lukassen S*, Trump S*, Hennig BP*, Wendisch D*, Pott F, Debnath O, Thürmann L, Kurth F, Völker MT, Kazmierski J, Timmermann B, Twardziok S, Schneider S, Machleidt F, Müller-Redetzky H, Maier M, Krannich A, Schmidt S, Balzer F, Liebig J, Loske J, Suttorp N, Eils J, Ishaque N, Liebert UG, Kalle C v., Hocke A, Witzenrath M, Goffinet C, Drosten C, Laudi S, Lehmann I*, Conrad C*, Sander LE*, Eils R*. COVID-19 severity correlates with airway epithelium-immune cell interactions identified by single-cell analysis. Nat Biotechnol. 2020;38(8):970–9. Available from: http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41587-020-0602-4
    12. Herold S, Sander LE. Toward a universal flu vaccine. Science. 2020;367(6480):852–3. Available from: http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.aba2754
    13. Georg P, Sander LE. Innate sensors that regulate vaccine responses. Curr Opin Immunol. 2019;5931–41. Available from: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.coi.2019.02.006
    14. Ugolini M*, Gerhard J*, Burkert S*, Jensen KJ, Georg P, Ebner F, Volkers SM, Thada S, Dietert K, Bauer L, Schäfer A, Helbig ET, Opitz B, Kurth F, Sur S, Dittrich N, Gaddam S, Conrad ML, Benn CS, Blohm U, Gruber AD, Hutloff A, Hartmann S, Boekschoten MV, Müller M, Jungersen G, Schumann RR, Suttorp N, Sander LE. Recognition of microbial viability via TLR8 drives TFH cell differentiation and vaccine responses. Nat Immunol. 2018;19(4):386–96. Available from: http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41590-018-0068-4
    15. Garaude J, Acín-Pérez R, Martínez-Cano S, Enamorado M, Ugolini M, Nistal-Villán E, Hervás-Stubbs S, Pelegrín P, Sander LE, Enríquez JA, Sancho D. Mitochondrial respiratory-chain adaptations in macrophages contribute to antibacterial host defense. Nat Immunol. 2016;17(9):1037–45. Available from: http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/ni.3509
    16. Blander JM, Sander LE. Beyond pattern recognition: five immune checkpoints for scaling the microbial threat. Nat Rev Immunol. 2012;12(3):215–25. Available from: http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nri3167
    17. Sander LE, Davis MJ, Boekschoten MV, Amsen D, Dascher CC, Ryffel B, Swanson JA, Müller M, Blander JM. Detection of prokaryotic mRNA signifies microbial viability and promotes immunity. Nature. 2011;474(7351):385–9. Available from: http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nature10072

    Research

    Research

    Find more about our research at the Sander Lab!

    In our SEMVAc study, we analyze the safety and efficacy of MVA-BN vaccination against symptomatic MPXV infections in at-risk individuals in Germany. Find more about the project here.

    At the beginning of the pandemic, it was unknown whether and for how long an infection with SARS-CoV-2 would produce immunity. Due to the emergence of viral variants over the last two years, this question has become increasingly complex and is being investigated at many university hospitals in Germany. Therefore, an essential part of the project was the networking and harmonization of these research approaches as well as the establishment of central platforms for the integration of immunity-relevant data and competences. Therefore, the Germany-wide collaborative project „COVIM – COllaboratiVe IMmunity Platform of the NUM“ was developed under the leadership of Prof. Dr. Florian Klein (University Hospital Cologne) and Prof. Dr. Leif Erik Sander (Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin). The project combines the expertise and data of many scientists from different disciplines, such as immunology, virology, clinical infectiology, pneumology and microbiology from all over Germany.

    COVIM is one of 14 collaborative projects within the Network University Medicine (NUM) and is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (Research Network University Medicine on Covid-19, FKZ: 01KX2021). The NUM unites the forces of the 36 university hospitals in Germany. Find more about the project here.

    The Berlin-Canberra alliance addresses fundamental issues in malaria through an International Research Training Program (IRTG 2290). Molecular insights into Plasmodium infections can generate novel evidence-based strategies to develop curative and prophylactic drugs, and immunization strategies that elicit lasting protection against the disease.

    The program covers four research areas:

    1. Nutrient Uptake and Metabolism
    2. Parasite Genetics and Adaptations
    3. Immune Responses
    4. Host Genetics and Drug Discovery

    Find more about the project here.

    Pneumonia is truly a wide spread disease. Important new aspects are a rising medical threat due to steadily increasing rates of multi- and pan-drug resistant bacteria, the emergence of viruses with pandemic potential and the current demography. Thus, novel strategies against pneumonia are sorely needed. This unmet scientific and clinical need is directly addressed by the SFB-TR84 and our interdisciplinary consortium is committed to comprehensively decipher the central role of the innate immune system for the pathogenesis of pneumonia. We will exploit insights, derived from basic research as well as patient-derived observations for novel diagnostic, preventative and therapeutic strategies.

    Find more about the project here.

    We have several projects in our Wetlab about different topics:

    Translation immunology:

    • Preclinical vaccine development (JCV & CMV)
    • MAIT cell ligands as novel adjuvants for carbohydrate vaccines

    Clinical immunology:

    • Vaccine and infection induced T-cell immunity to Sars-CoV2
    • In depth phenotyping of vaccine & infection induced T-cells
    • T-cells in fungal lung infections?

    Innate immunity in infection and vaccination:

    • Mechanisms of immune activation of COVID19 vaccines
    • Innate immune responses to Malaria
    • Alternative inflammasome activation

    We are involved in several studies at the CSC about SARS-CoV-2.

    Find more about the project here.

    News

    News

    Video about our results to the COVID-vaccinations

    Talks/Podcasts

    Wie funktioniert das Immunsystem? (Podcast in German by Grams‘ Sprechstunde at Detektor.fm, 7 July 2022)

    Coronavirus-Update-Sonderfolge: Hybridimmunität (Podcast in German by NDR, 21 June 2022)

    Impfstoffe bei COVID-19 (talk in German by Leif Erik Sander, 06 Jan 2021)

    Wie funktionieren die Impfstoffe gegen SARS-CoV-2? (Podcast in German by the Berlin Institute of Health, 03 Mar 2021)

    Wirksamkeit, Reihenfolge, Nebenwirkungen – Ihre Fragen zur Corona-Impfung​ (Interview in German by Leif Erik Sander, 22 Apr 2021)

    News(paper)

    „Man kann leider noch keine vollständige Entwarnung geben“ (Interview in German by RedaktionsNetzwerk Deutschland, 8 Aug 2022)

    „Lässt sich die Ausbreitung der Affenpocken noch stoppen, Herr Sander?“ (Interview by SpiegelOnline, 10 June 2022)

    „Die Corona-Impfung verändert Ihr Erbgut nicht“ (Interview in German by Zeit Online, 21 Jan 2021)

    Mixing vaccines may boost immune responses (The Lab is featured in an article by Gretchen Vogel; Science, 11 Jun 2021)

    Mix-and-match COVID vaccines: the case is growing, but questions remain (Article by Dyani Lewis about our current research; Nature 595, 344-345, 01 July 2021)

    Corona: „Würde meine Kinder impfen lassen“ (Interview by ZDF heute, 04 July 2021)

    Why antibodies may not be the key to beating coronavirus (National Geographic, 07 August 2020)

    Current Articles/Preprints

    Aznaourova, M. et al. Single-cell RNA sequencing uncovers the nuclear decoy lincRNA PIRAT as a regulator of systemic monocyte immunity during COVID-19. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 119

    Gruell, H. et al. Neutralisation sensitivity of the SARS-CoV-2 omicron BA.2.75 sublineage. In: The Lancet. Infectious diseases 22 (10)

    Gruell, H. et al. SARS-CoV-2 Omicron sublineages exhibit distinct antibody escape patterns. Cell host & microbe

    Gruell, H. et al. mRNA booster immunization elicits potent neutralizing serum activity against the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant. Nature medicine

    Tober-Lau, P. et al. Long-term immunogenicity of BNT162b2 vaccination in older people and younger health-care workers. The Lancet Respiratory Medicine 9, e104-e105

    Tober-Lau, P. et al. Cross-Variant Neutralizing Serum Activity after SARS-CoV-2 Breakthrough Infections. Emerging Infectious Diseases  28.

    Vanshylla, K. et al. Durability of omicron-neutralising serum activity after mRNA booster immunisation in older adults. The Lancet Infectious Diseases 22

    Team

    Team

    Leif Erik Sander

    PI

    Leif Erik studied medicine at the Hannover Medical School and completed his clinical training as an internist and pulmonologist at Aachen University Hospital and at the Charité in Berlin. From 2008 to 2011, he trained as a postdoctoral fellow in the lab of Julie Blander at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York. In 2012 he set up his lab at Charité supported by an Emmy Noether-Fellowship from the German Research Foundation (DFG). He was appointed W2 (associate) professor at Charité in 2016. In 2022, he was promoted to full professor and chair of the Clinic of Infectious Diseases at the Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin. He is interested in the mechanisms of vaccination and infection, with a specific interest in the earliest events of the immune response.

    Yvonne Ahlgrimm

    Study coordinator

    Yvonne has been working as a nurse at the Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin since 2003 and studied health sciences at the Charité/Humboldt University, graduating in 2017. Since 2017, she has been working for the Berlin Institute of Health, initially as a study assistant and from 2021 onwards, she is coordinating the vaccination studies for the Sander / Kurth group. Yvonne is a permanent member of the team since 2023 and is responsible for study planning, preparation, implementation and completion.

    Sophia Brumhard

    PhD-Student

    Sophia studied biotechnology at the Darmstadt University of Applied Sciences and the Beuth University of Applied Sciences in Berlin. She did her bachelor’s in the virology department at the Paul-Ehrlich-Institut in Langen, where her interest in research of viral infections and infectious diseases emerged. In 2018, she joined the Sander lab to write her master’s thesis. During this time, she worked together with Daniel on the permissivity of attenuated measles vaccine viruses in primary APCs. In 2020 she started her PhD and is involved in several projects concerning the role of the immune system in different severities of COVID-19. Currently, her focus is on understanding the innate immune responses to the new COVID-19 vaccine classes.

    Claudia Conrad

    Technical Assistant

    After successfully completing my technical school training as a medical-technical laboratory assistant, I earned a diploma in food chemistry at the Humboldt University Berlin. Afterwards, I completed the second state examination as a state-certified food chemist.

    Since 2012, I have been employed as a technical assistant in the Medical Department, Division of Infectiology and Pneumonology, at the Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin and since 2018 I have been working in the Sander lab.

    Philipp Georg

    PhD-Student

    Philipp graduated from the University of Heidelberg with a Bachelor and Master in Biology with a Major focusing on Infectious Diseases. During his studies at the University of Heidelberg and ERASMUS exchanges at the University of Leicester, and the Karolinska Institutet he developed a key interest in the human immune system and its interaction with pathogens. He is very curious about all things vaccine related and still trying to grasp the immune system in its entirety.  In non COVID times he investigates effector functions of a non-conventional T cell population termed mucosal associated invariant T cells (MAIT) as part of the transregional SFB TR84. During the COVID-19 pandemic he investigated the roles of cytotoxic T cells in patients suffering from severe COVID-19. Part of this work was published in the journal “Cell” 2022.

    Apart from science: Father, bike and gardening enthusiast.

    Anna Hiller

    PhD-Student

    Anna completed her studies in medicine and ‘Experimental Medicine’ at JMU Wuerzburg and was supported by the Max-Weber scholarship program. During her practical year, her curiosity for infectious diseases and vaccinology emerged. After her graduation, she became increasingly interested in data analysis of high-throughput technologies, did training in R and Python and started studying mathematics at the TU Berlin. She joined the Sander Lab in 2020 for her MD and was accepted for a scholarship by the Manchot Foundation. She is especially interested in describing immunological processes of antigen presenting cells in response to vaccines using single-cell technologies. Her current project is focusing on the role of innate immune cells in response to different vaccine platforms in the context of Covid-19 vaccination.

    William Hirst

    Scientific Employee

    Will graduated with a dual-major Bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry and German Studies at Vassar College (Poughkeepsie, NY, USA) and then with a Master of Science at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. In 2015, he moved to Berlin and began working as a technician in the lab of Simone Reber at the Humboldt-University of Berlin. He stayed in the lab to pursue his doctorate, which focused on relating tubulin-dependent differences in microtubule dynamics between Xenopus frog species to spindle length control and characterizing parasite-specific microtubule inhibition in Plasmodium falciparum. He joined the Sander lab in 2021, where he is part of a collaborative effort to characterize T-cell responses to COVD-19 vaccination and infection.

    Calvin Hon

    Scientific Employee

    Calvin completed his Bachelor’s in Marine Biology at the University of Portsmouth (U.K.), and graduated from London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (U.K.) with a Master’s in Medical Microbiology. In 2018, he moved to Berlin to conduct his PhD project at the Department of Molecular Parasitology in Humboldt University as part of the “Research Training Group 2046: Parasite Infections: From Experimental Models To Natural Systems” graduate program. Calvin’s research primarily focused on identifying protective CD8+ T cell epitopes that contribute to whole-attenuated sporozoite-induced sterilizing immunity against Plasmodium pre-erythrocytic stages. In 2022, Calvin joined the Sander Lab where he has been involved in vaccine immunology projects including the characterization of induced immunity following COVID-19 vaccination. Outside of science, Calvin is a metal musician and loves working on audio production and content creation.

    Leu Huang

    Clinician Scientist

    Leu studied medicine at Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin and is completing her bachelor’s degree in business administration at the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. Before joining the Sander Lab, she worked for multiple start-ups and gained experience in building interdisciplinary collaborations for a pharmaceutical company. Currently, she is part of the clinical research physicians team and focuses on the SEMVAc study.

    Beyond her professional life, Leu is passionate about afro-latin dances, running and good food.

    Stefanie Jentzsch

    Lab Manager

    Steffi studied biotechnology (bachelor) in Berlin and then completed her master’s degree in biochemistry and molecular biology at the University of Potsdam. After her studies, she started as a scientist in a laboratory for food analysis. Later, she gained her first experience there as a laboratory manager. She joined Sander Lab in November 2020 and helps with laboratory organization, orders, personnel matters and all the little other things that come up. Currently, she is assisting with lab work and organization as part of a vaccination study.

    Han Le

    Clinician Scientist

    Han works as a study physician for our clinical studies on COVID-19 and Monkeypox vaccines. As an MD, she loves acting at the intersection of research and clinical practice, bringing together the best of these two fields. She studied medicine and economics in Heidelberg/Mannheim with stops in Denmark, Switzerland, Luxembourg, China, USA, and Egypt and was supported by several scholarships. Her special interest concerns global health and politics, having had the opportunity to gain experience at the MoH and industry. In that spirit, Han has initiated several humanitarian and social projects – the latest contribution being a transport of medical supplies to Ukraine with the Fachschaft Medizin Charité.

    Jason McGowan

    PhD-Student

    My name is Jason I am a PhD student  from Ireland studying innate immunology. Currently, my research is focused on the molecular mechanisms involved in the  detection of and reaction to Malaria Plasmodium infected red blood cells.

    Outside the laboratory, you can find me doing urban photography around Berlin and enjoying the nice weather by the lakeside.

    Parnika Mukherjee

    Scientific Employee

    Parnika graduated from PES Institute of Technology in Bangalore, India, with a Bachelor of Engineering degree in Biotechnology. In 2014, she moved to Berlin to start her Master of Science degree in Bioinformatics at Freie Universität Berlin. After her M.Sc., she was accepted in a dual-degree PhD program between Berlin and Canberra, IRTG2290: “Crossing boundaries: Molecular interactions in malaria”. Here, she explored host-parasite interactions in malaria using publicly available experimental data sets. In 2021, Parnika joined the Sander Lab, where she works as a bioinformatician staff scientist. So far she has analysed intercellular interactions of innate immune cells and proteomics data from a COVID-19 vaccine response study in addition to transcriptomics data from innate immune sensing experiments. She is interested in further developing her skills in Bioinformatics algorithms and data analysis. Outside of work, she is interested in photography and calligraphy.

    Anne-Maria Ollech

    Technical Assistant

    My name is Anne-Maria Ollech and in 2020, I successfully completed my training as a biological-technical assistant at the OSZ Lise Meitner. In the same year, despite the pandemic, I got the opportunity to do a 3-month internship abroad in Lund, Sweden. More specifically, I worked in the Lund Protein Production Platform (LP3) a cross-faculty expert center and user facility at Lund University where I gained my first experience. I Joint the Sander Lab 2021 for the CORONA vaccination study and have since become the main person responsible for receiving, documenting and maintaining data on incoming samples. On the side, I help in the lab wherever a helping hand is needed.

    Kai Pohl

    Scientific Employee

    Kai studied Molecular Biology and Biochemistry in Bielefeld and Hamburg spending two ERASMUS semesters at the University of Manchester, UK and at the University of Granada in Spain. He joined the Lab for his PhD in 2017 within the IRTG2290, an international research training consortium. During his PhD he also spent over a year abroad in Ian Cockburn’s lab at the John Curtin School of Medical Research in Australia. Kai’s research is focused on how innate immune sensing mechanisms determine and shape adaptive immune responses, primarily in the context of Malaria vaccines. Since finishing up his PhD, he has contributed to the labs’ efforts towards characterizing immune responses to COVID-19 vaccines.

    Katharina Richter

    Administration

    Katharina studied German Literature, Sociology and Politics at the Humboldt University Berlin, Freie Universität Berlin and Charles University Prague. She is a passionate science manager with over ten years’ experience in coordinating and managing small to large scale research activities at Berlin universities. She loves bringing together colleagues working in research and administration and finding the best solutions to make the projects work in both worlds. Katharina’s experience in having worked at a small research funding organization has helped her on working on all different kind of research grant proposals. In Leif’s lab she is taking care of administrative processes as well as budgeting. Katharina is mother of two boys; she is working on changing the perception of working mothers as well as gender concepts in general in the work field.

    Janina Tiedemann

    Medical-Technical Assistant

    Janina studied Pharmaceutical Biotechnology in Gießen. After writing her bachelor thesis in Cambridge, she completed her Master in Biotechnology at the RWTH Aachen. Afterwards, she worked as a scientist and quality manager for a company designing and producing ELISAs. In 2020, she moved to Berlin to work at the Clinical Research Unit (BIH). One focus of the Unit was the preparation of samples of different clinical COVID-19 studies. To get a deeper insight into research and processing of the collected samples, she joined the Sander lab in 2023 and is now part of the spike-reactive T-cell team investigating T-cell responses after COVID-19 vaccination and infection.“

    Pinkus Tober-Lau

    Clinician Scientist

    Pinkus is a physician and clinical investigator, graduating from Charité in 2020. Having spent time in Togo, Oman, and Gabon, he is currently working on clinical and proteomic studies related to malaria, NTDs, COVID-19, monkeypox, as well as vaccines against the latter two diseases.

    Sabine Weickmann

    Medical-Technical Assistant

    Sabine Weickmann completed her technical school studies in Greifswald and worked for many years as a technical assistant at a tumor clinic laboratory.
    Sabine developed her professional skills through additional formal training in molecular medicine. This has allowed her to work with great success at various tumor research centers of the Charité, including hematology, pneumology and urology.
    After joining the Clinical Trial Unit in 2019, Sabine moved to the Infectious Diseases Unit at Charité in 2023 due to restructuring. The Infectious Diseases Unit is where she currently processes the samples of study subjects and supports miscellaneous research projects with her aptitude for organization.

    On a personal note, Sabine is also a mother and a grandmother. She loves cycling and going on pilgrimages

    Arne Windler

    Administration

    Arne studied Pre- and Protohistoric Archaeology, Economics and Geophysics at the University of Kiel. After he graduated in Kiel, he wrote his PhD-Thesis about the long-distance exchange of a Mediterranean shell in Europe between 5500 and 5000 BC at the Ruhr-University in Bochum. He received a one-year travel scholarship by the German Archaeological Institute in 2017/18 and worked as a Postdoc at the Universities of Cologne and Bonn as well as at the German Mining Museum Bochum. After he moved to Berlin to take care of his first child, he had the opportunity to work in the Sander Lab and get to know a brand-new field of research and works as a project coordinator in the lab.