Via this page you can find interesting interviews with our young talents
Interview with Assoc. Prof. Dr. Antonella Di Pizio
Personal information about Antonella Di Pizio
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Antonella Di Pizio, born in 1984, studied Pharmaceutical Chemistry and Technology at the "University of Chieti", Italy. She also obtained her PhD "Doctor Europaeus" in the field of "Drug Design" from this university. After a short research stay at Philips University in Marburg, Germany, she worked as a postdoc at the "Hebrew University of Jerusalem" in Israel from 2013 to 2018. Since October 2018, she leads the research group "Molecular Modeling" formerly known as " Computational Pharmacology" at the Leibniz Institute. Since 2023, her position at the Leibniz Institute has been linked to the Associate Professorship for Chemoinformatics and Protein Modelling at the Department of Molecular Life Sciences at the School of Life Sciences.
You have studied pharmaceutical chemistry in Italy, followed by a PhD and a PostDoc in Israel. What brought you to Freising / Germany and the Leibniz-LSB@TUM?
During my postdoc I started working on bitter taste receptors. I got more and more engaged in the field of chemical senses, how we perceive the taste of food. At the molecular level, this is a complex and fascinating process, with many open questions. I strongly believe that molecular modeling can certainly contribute to provide answers. The Leibniz Institute is the most suitable place to work on this topic, and this is the reason I am so happy to be here.
Interview with Dr. Melanie Köhler
Personal Information about Melanie Köhler
Melanie Köhler, born in 1988, grew up in the administrative district Rosenheim and received her "engineering diploma" ("Master of Science) at the University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria, Campus Linz, Austria in the field of "Medical Engineering". She obtained her PhD "Doctor of Engineering Sciences" with a thesis on "Single molecular binding studies of purine nucleotides to mitochondrial uncoupling proteins explored by recognition imaging and force spectroscopy" at the Johannes Kepler University, Institute of Biophysics, Linz, Austria. After that, at the end of 2016, she moved to the UCLouvain in Belgium, where she worked as senior researcher and explored the molecular mechanisms behind virus binding to cell surface receptors. Since June 2022 she heads the Junior Research Group Mechanoreceptors at the LSB.
What made you decide to become a diploma engineer? And why did you study and earn your doctorate in Austria for this purpose?
Already during my school years, I was particularly interested in natural sciences and completed my professional baccalaureate in the technical-scientific branch at the college for further education in Rosenheim. In combination with my interest in the health sciences, the bachelor's degree in physical engineering at the Zwickau University of Applied Sciences and later the master's degree in medical engineering with the goal of becoming a diploma engineer was the perfect choice. For my master's degree and subsequent doctorate, I was drawn to Linz, Austria, due to the excellent range of studies and the outstanding reputation of the educational and research institutions.