Franziska Pieper

ESR 9

Project: Optimisation of host response and T-cell targeting

Organisation/Institute: Imperial College London (London, UK)

Supervisors: Prof. Rosemary Boyton and Prof. Danny Altmann

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My name is Franziska and I am from Germany. I started my scientific career at the Free University Berlin by getting a bachelor’s degree in Biology (2014-2017). During my bachelor thesis I worked with Paenibacillus larvae in the lab of Prof. Dr. Elke Genersch at the institute for bee research Hohen Neuendorf e.V.. P. larvae is the causative agent of the American Foulbrood, a disease causing a substantial loss of colonies each year. In the course of my studies I purified a S-layer protein of the pathogen for further examination and at the same time conducted bio-exposure assays with honeybees.

My interest for infectious pathogens was sparked and so I decided to continue with a master’s degree in Microbiology at the Friedrich-Schiller University in Jena (2017-2020). During my master thesis at Prof. Dr. Bernhard Hube’s lab at the Hans-Knöll-Institute I focused on Candida glabrata, an opportunistic fungal pathogen and its ability to cope with copper stress situations. To do so, I used different molecular and microbiological assays and cell culture models, including primary macrophages, which fascinated me immensely.

Working in the lab of Prof. Dr. Hube made it clear for me, that I want to pursue a career as a scientist and specifically, a scientist in the medical field.

I will work under the supervision of Prof. Rosemary Boyton and Prof. Daniel Altmann at the Imperial College London. My project aims to characterise and optimise the host response against Pseudomonas aeruginosa and optimise T-cell targeting.