🤸 People

Anouk Willemsen 🇳🇱

Assistant Professor
My research broadly focuses on virus evolution, genome evolution, and phylogenetics, with special attention to virus-host co-evolution and phenotypic/genotypic novelty.

✉️ anouk.willemsen[*]univie.ac.at

Links

ORCID logo@willemsenanouk.bsky.social
ORCID logo0000-0002-8511-3244
RG logoResearchGate

Büşra Külekci 🇦🇹 🇹🇷

Postdoctoral researcher
Virome during faecal microbiota transplantation.

✉️ buesra.kuelekci[*]univie.ac.at

Links

ORCID logo0000-0002-4074-6021
RG logoResearchGate

Dominik Lücking 🇩🇪

Postdoctoral researcher
(co-supervised by Alejandro Manzano Marín)
Mobile genetic elements in giant viruses.

✉️ dominik.luecking[*]univie.ac.at

Links

ORCID logo@dominikluecking.bsky.social
ORCID logo0009-0008-0524-0210
RG logoResearchGate

Georgi Nikolov 🇧🇬

Lab Technician
I support team members with various laboratory tasks to help them run their experiments smoothly.

✉️ georgi.nikolov[*]univie.ac.at

Links

ORCID logo@nikolovg.bsky.social
RG logoResearchGate

Laura Sánchez Lara 🇪🇸

PhD researcher
My thesis focuses on the role of mobile genetic elements and extracellular vesicles in the arms race among the viruses, competing parasites, and hosts.

✉️ laura.sanchez[*]univie.ac.at

Links

ORCID logo0009-0006-9864-5633
RG logoResearchGate
LinkedIn logoLinkedIn

Daniela Schwarz 🇩🇪

PhD researcher
I’m interested in exploring the role of viral tRNAs during infection and investigating interactions among giant viruses.

✉️ daniela.schwarz[*]univie.ac.at

Links

ORCID logo@danischwarz.bsky.social
ORCID logo0009-0004-4729-4402
RG logoResearchGate
LinkedIn logoLinkedIn

Elias Konovalov 🇨🇾

Master student (Erasmus+)
My Master’s thesis focuses on how giant viruses modify the behaviour of their hosts and how hosts defend against them

✉️ elia.konovalov[*]ru.nl

Links

LinkedIn logoLinkedIn

Faruk Saglam 🇦🇹

Master student
(co-supervised by Daniela Schwarz)
My Master’s thesis focuses on the competition and fitness in giant viruses. I approach this by performing competition experiments.

✉️ m.faruk.saglam.38[*]gmail.com

Links

LinkedIn logoLinkedIn

🤝 Collaborators

Matthias Horn 🇩🇪
University of Vienna 🔗
Alejandro Manzano Marín 🇲🇽
University of Vienna 🔗
Hiroyuki Ogata 🇯🇵
Kyoto University 🔗

🎓 Alumni

Lotte Mayer 🇦🇹. Master student (Bachelor/Master thesis), 2023-26. University of Vienna, Austria. Currently PhD. student at Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA). ORCID logo0009-0008-3200-0722

Mia Tišma 🇧🇦. Undergraduate intern (Bachelor thesis), 2025. University of Vienna, Austria.

David Wolfschwenger 🇦🇹. Undergraduate intern (Bachelor thesis), 2025. University of Vienna, Austria.

Ruixuan Zhang 🇨🇳. Visiting researcher (PhD researcher), 2024. Kyoto University, Japan.

Lucia Splittgerber. Undergraduate intern (Bachelor thesis), 2023. University of Vienna, Austria.

Julia Haller. Undergraduate intern (Bachelor thesis), 2021. University of Vienna, Austria.

Tatiana Solomatina. Undergraduate intern (Bachelor), 2020-2021. University of Vienna, Austria.