Name: Dr. Dominic Winter
Position: Group leader
Special skill: The Motivator
Contact: dominic.winter[at]uni-bonn.de
After finishing his PhD in the group of Wolf Lehmann at the German Cancer Research Center in Heidelberg, Dominic joined the lab of Hanno Steen for postdoctoral studies at Children’s Hospital / Harvard Medical School in Boston, USA. After returning to Germany, he started as group leader at the IBMB. Being trained initially in mass spectrometry and proteomics, he extended his range of skills to a variety of biochemistry and molecular biology techniques allowing the Winter Lab to cover almost every aspect of the projects they are working on. If you don't find Dominic in his office, you should have a look in the forest where he likes to climb hills on his bike or at the river Rhine where he is rowing or trying to catch some fish.
Name: Dr. Robert Hardt
Position: Post Doc
Special skill: The Support Specialist
Robert is a "Bonner Original" and already conducted his diploma and PhD studies in the IBMB, were he developed and applied LC-MS-based proteomic methods to study a myelin membrane protein involved in a severe neurodegenerative disease. After finishing his PhD in 2015, Robert joined the "Core Facility for MS & Proteomics" at the ZMBH in Heidelberg. There he further expanded his practical and theoretical knowledge in mass spectrometry and helped many customers solving their analytical questions. The foci of his work were large scale PTM-analyses, targeted measurements (PRM) and crosslinking-MS. From 2017 to 2019 he then applied his skills in the pharmaceutical industry at Sanofi in Frankfurt a. M.. There he analyzed various recombinant proteins by classical "bottom-up" as well as "top-down" approaches. After two years, Robert decided to move back to academia and is now working as a joined PostDoc both for the mass spectrometry core facility and the Winter lab. His main focus, besides keeping care of the LC-MS-instruments, is on data analysis and visualization using various software packages and R scripting. Besides mass spectrometry and research, Robert is an enthusiastic rower and runner, as well as a movie and TV series lover.
Name: Kim Dreßler
Position: Technican
Special skill: The Creative Mind
Kim did her apprenticeship as a biology laboratory assistant at the research center caesar in Bonn, Germany. After that, she started working in the department of “Molecular Genetics” at the MVZ Institute for Clinical Genetics and Tumor Genetics in Bonn.In 2020 she decided to go back to a research-based lab and was working as a shared technical assistant in the departments of “Biophysical Imaging” and “Systems Immunology and Proteomics” at the Institute of Innate Immunity in Bonn. To stay in the wet lab in research, Kim started working in the Winter Lab in 2023 as a technical assistant. Besides work she loves to paint, being creative, doing yoga and trying to play the piano.
Name: Elham Pourbarkhordari
Position: PhD student
Special skill: The Mice Whisperer
Elham came to Germany from Iran in 2016 and started a Master's program in Life Science Informatics at the University of Bonn. Before, she already obtained a Bachelor’s and a Master’s degree in Biology and Clinical Biochemistry, respectively, in Iran. She is working in the Winter Lab as a student assistant helping the other members of the group with biochemistry and molecular biology experiments.
Name: Anne Sanner
Position: PhD student
Special skill: The Optimist
Anne studied Bological Sciences in Münster and Cologne before she joined the Winter lab for her Ph.D. in November 2019. In the course of her studies, she also spent some time abroad in Canada (Montréal) to investigate cystic fibrosis, and in Berlin (Bayer Health Care), to work in the field of in vitro oncology. Her master thesis was completed in the CECAD in Cologne, where she worked with mass spectrometry. In her PhD, she focuses on TFEB and its isoforms, as well as the establishment of mass spectrometric methods. In her time off, she likes to travel, spend time with her friends and to paint.
Name: Pathma Muthukottiappan
Position: PhD student
Special skill: The Duracell
Pathma started her Master’s program at the University of Bonn in 2017. She joined the Winter lab as a student assistant in 2018, and then extended to do her Master’s thesis. Afterwards she successfully applied for a scholarship at the Jürgen Manchot Stiftung, which allowed her to carry on with her doctoral studies. She investigates the composition of lysosomes by mass spectrometry based proteomics. As a hobby, she cooks, and reads.
Name: Sara Bonini
Position: PhD student
Special skill: The Pastry Chef
Sara comes from Italy, she took her Master degree in Pharmaceutical Biotechnology at the University of Perugia. She started with an Erasmus+ program at Winter lab in Bonn and now she is continuing her experience as PhD student. She investigates the response of the lysosomal proteome to changes in cellular nutrients. Her hobbies are cooking, reading books and watching old movies.
Name: Yannic Hackenberg
Position: MD student
Special skill: The Good Doc
Yannic is our medical student and is doing his doctors thesis now in the lab. He started studying dentistry in 2016 and moved over to medicine in 2019 where he came in contact with the lab. His aim is to transfer our research on the human lysosomal proteome to lysosomal storage diseases and neurodegenerative diseases. When Yannic is not at UKB or in the lab, he loves to travel, run marathons, play football and steal food from the group members.
Name: Dhriti Arora
Position: PhD student
Special skill: Jack of all trades
Dhriti comes from India, she performed her Bachelor’s studies in Biochemistry at the University of Delhi, India. Later in 2019, she came to Germany to perform a Master’s in Biochemistry at the LIMES-institute of the University of Bonn. During a rotation in the Winter lab, she discovered her growing love for mass spectrometry based projects and research and consequently decided to stay for her Master’s thesis. Seeing her fellow colleagues work on this technique,
she also wanted a topic for her thesis which involves some hands on with mass spectrometry. Now she is working on the characterization of the human lysosomal proteome by mass spectrometry. When Dhriti is not in the lab she likes to hang around with friends and to play table tennis.
Name: Jiaran Li
Position: PhD student
Special skill: The Potter
Jiaran comes from China, she performed her Master’s studies in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences. With great interest in mass spectrometry, she joined the Winter lab for her Ph.D. in the beginning of 2023. There she focuses on target proteomic studies. In her free time, she loves to travel and hang around with friends.
Name: Sofía Fajardo-Callejon
Position: PhD student
Special skill: The Neurospicy
Sofía studied Biological Sciences in Chile before moving to Spain to pursue a master's degree in Neuroscience. Throughout her studies she has focused on the role of lysosomes in neuronal death in lysosomal storage disorders. She joined the Winter Lab after successfully applying for a DAAD scholarship to learn specialized techniques and to better understand neurodegeneration. She investigates lysosomes and their proteome by a variety of technologies including mass spectrometry-based proteomics. When Sofia is not in the lab making silly jokes, she is at home watching documentaries, painting and sharing her experience as an autistic person on social media.
Name: Milash Balachandran
Position: MSc. student
Special skill: The Enthusiast
Milash performed his Bachelor's studies in Technology and Genetic Engineering at SRM University in India. In the course of his Bachelor's thesis project, he came to Germany in 2019 to the University of Jena. After graduating, he decided to stay there for his Master’s studies in Molecular Medicine, during which he developed an interest in mass spectrometry. This is how he discovered the Winter Lab, and after coming for an internship in 2022, he extended his stay for his Master's thesis project. He is exploring lysosomal signaling by molecular biology and mass spectrometry-based proteomics. In his leisure time, he loves to hike and take scenic photos.
Name: Ekaterina Savina
Position: MSc. student
Special skill: The Writer
Ekaterina originally came from Russia, where she finished her Bachelor in Biology at the Novosibirsk State University. After graduating, she wanted to find a place where she can study biology and medicine at the same time, and this place turned out to be the University of Applied Sciences in Rheinbach, Germany. Ekaterina is keen on metabolic diseases, therefore she joined the Winter lab to get an opportunity to merge deeper into such a topic. In her spare time, she likes reading and writing, visit new places, as well as spend time with herself.
Name: Selin Özesen
Position: MSc. student
Special skill: The Heliophile
Selin pursued a bachelor’s degree in Molecular Biology and Genetics in Turkey. She moved to Germany in 2021 to study biochemistry. Her interest in lysosomes and mass spectrometry led her to discover and join the Winter lab. Besides work, she likes team sports, running and playing board games.
