Andreas trained as a veterinarian at the University of Veterinary Medicine​ in Vienna. Following doctoral and postdoctoral work with Dr. Hans Hengartner and Nobel laureate Dr. Rolf Zinkernagel at the University of Zurich, with Dr. Daniel Pinschewer at the University of Geneva, Switzerland and with Dr. Alan Aderem at the Institute for Systems Biology in Seattle, US, he was group leader at the CeMM Research Center for Molecular Medicine of the Austrian Academy of Sciences from 2011-2021. Since 2022, he is Professor of Molecular Immunology and Head of the Institute of Hygiene and Applied Immunology at the Center for Pathophysiology, Infectiology and Immunology at the Medical University of Vienna in Austria. He is also Adjunct Principal Investigator at CeMM. Andreas is co-founder of the clinical-stage immunotherapy company Hookipa Pharma.

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In his leisure time, Andreas enjoys time with his family and hunts for mushrooms.  

Anna did her undergrad studies in molecular biology at the Technical University of Graz. After finishing her bachelor’s degree, she moved to Vienna to study molecular biology with a focus on molecular medicine at the University of Vienna. She performed her master thesis work in the field of medical imaging at the Medical University of Vienna. After finishing her master’s, she started her work as a lab manager / research assistant in the Bergthaler lab. Besides administrating and maintaining the lab, she’s happy to help colleagues with work in the wet lab. Since this year she is collaborating with the VetMeduni on a project focused on transmissible cancers in Tasmanian Devils.

In her free time, she enjoys cooking, reading and meeting good friends.

Anna completed her studies in Cognitive and Molecular Neurosciences at the University of Vienna, Austria and has been working in the pharmaceutical industry in Quality Assurance and Data Integrity. She works both in the Lab and in the bioinformatics team and is part of the national surveillance project for detecting pathogen in wastewater and the citizen science project about airborne pathogen monitoring in the air in high school classrooms.

She enjoys playing tabletops RPGs in her free time. 

Aubrey joined the Bergthaler lab as a master student in April 2023 and completed her Master’s degree in Molecular Microbiology, Microbial Ecology and Immunobiology at the University of Vienna in June 2024.  Since then, she has been working as a laboratory technician, supporting her colleagues in their various projects as well as performing general laboratory and organizational duties. 

In her free time, she enjoys climbing, yoga and being silly with her children.

Bethany is a computational biologist and data scientist who uses genomic epidemiology and phylodynamic modelling to characterise how viruses evolve and spread through populations. She obtained her DPhil in Clinical Medicine from the University of Oxford, UK, and previously conducted post-doctoral research at the University of Cambridge, UK, and the US Military HIV Research Program.

Bethany has particular interest in engaging science communication for actionable public health response, data visualisation and reproducible research.

Away from the lab, Bethany can be often be found gaming, doodling, exploring and baking.

During his undergrad, Felix studied molecular and human biology at the Saarland University (Germany) and at the University of Strasbourg (France) in a French-german double degree focusing on the antiviral immune response in Drosophila. Following this, he moved on to the Karolinska Institutet (Sweden) for his Master’s degree in Biomedicine researching the role of lncRNAs in cancer cells. For his PhD thesis, Felix joined the University of Oxford to study the role of adipocyte autophagy in controlling intestinal inflammation. Since 2022, Felix joined the lab of Prof. Bergthaler investigating the role of CD8+ T cells in cachexia in mice and humans. He is also co-founder of the Preprint Club, which aims establish a community-based approach to peer reviewing.

In his leisure time, he likes to play tennis and enjoy being in nature.

Henrique was trained as a Pharmacist at the University of Lisbon and obtained his PhD from the Gulbenkian Institute of Science (IGC) in Portugal. During his PhD he studied how changes in mitochondrial function and metabolism influence tissue damage during sepsis. In 2020, Henrique joined the Bergthaler lab to study how metabolites serve as communication signals between organs during viral infection. 

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Outside of the lab, he is passionate about music, travelling and food (preferably all combined).

Joel studied Biological Sciences at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He subsequently went on to work for a year as a Research Officer in A*STAR IDLabs – joining the Singaporean national effort in the fight against COVID-19 through vaccine immunomonitoring and antibody discovery. He then moved to Vienna to commence his PhD with CeMM. He is currently working on circadian immunometabolism and cachexia. He enjoys meeting new people and exploring new hobbies. 

Laura completed her doctoral studies in the National Autonomous University of Mexico, Mexico. She is a postdoctoral researcher interested in the areas of viral infection, immunology, metabolism and interorgan communication.

In her free time, she enjoys reading all sorts of books and going for long walks.

Lukas studied Biochemistry at the University of Vienna and completed his doctoral thesis on dynamical models of biological networks at the Institute of Theoretical Chemistry.

After a few years working for the BioModels Database project at the European Bioinformatics Institute, Cambridge, UK, he came back to Vienna first as a postdoc and then as general Bioinformatics support at the Institute of Population Genetics, Univ. of Veterinary Sciences. 

He joined the Bergthaler Lab in 2020 on a project to sequence SARS CoV2 genomes.

Apart from that, he is working on viral evolution and helps with analyzing biological data.

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Outside work he tries to spend time in nature hiking with his kids and enjoys reading.

Magdalena studied molecular biology at the University of Vienna. These studies included a number of shorter research stints covering different topics, including internships at the Medical University Vienna studying food allergies, at the Children’s Cancer Research Institute (CCRI) Vienna studying the development of Ewing sarcoma, a bone cancer predominantly affecting children and the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Vienna studying the genetic stability of different cell lines. She finished her undergraduate studies with a master thesis in the research group of Reinhard Hinterleitner at the University of Pittsburgh in the USA, where, supported by a scholarship from the Austrian Marshall Plan Foundation, she studied the role of a commensal gut protozoa in promoting oral tolerance to dietary antigens. She joined the Bergthaler Lab in September 2021 as a PhD student and is working on investigating the role of gut-derived metabolites in anti-viral immune responses.

In her free time, Lena enjoys painting, hiking, badminton and trying out different new hobbies. 

Orsi is an evolutionary biologist using transdisciplinary approaches to develop pathogen surveillance programs that provide a deeper understanding into their evolutionary patterns and population dynamics. She works within the international network of scientists developing different aspects of the DAMA protocol, the policy extension of the Stockholm Paradigm framework for emerging infectious diseases. She obtained her DPhil from the Eotvos Lorand University in Hungary, and has conducted postdoctoral research at Dartmouth College, USA and UFRN, Brazil and the Konrad Lorenz Institute for Evolution and Cognition Research, AT. Orsi works on the interface of public health policy and pathogen evolution to advise preventive measures, and is actively engaged in science communication.

Outside the lab, Orsi enjoys family-time, outdoors, and geeks out about tabletop RPG and Nordic mythology.

Susanne was trained as a teacher in biology and PuP (Psychology and Philosophy) at the University of Vienna, Austria.

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She assists the team in secretarial matters and provides support in various other areas.

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In her leisure time, she likes to paint and create items for cosplay.

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Eva is a Biomedical Analyst since year 2000.

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She has a lot of experience in antibody-isolation, experiments with cellular immunity as well as with lab management.

She is a passionate cineast, mountain-lover and skier.

Matthew received his BSc. in Biology from Pennsylvania State University, and his MSc in Ecology from the University of Vienna. He is currently working as a research assistant involved in developing sequencing-based methods for pathogen surveillance and characterization from environmental samples.

Outside of the lab he enjoys playing basketball and piano.

Fabian studied Microbiology and Genetics at the University Vienna. During his PhD at the Institute of Theoretical Biochemistry, he started to use in-silico tools to predict RNA structures and interactions. After stations as PostDoc in Leipzig, Vienna and as a core facility bioinformatician at the ISTA, Klosterneuburg, he joined the pathogen surveillance group within the Bergthaler Lab. Early on he focused on method development for wastewater-based epidemiology to track the spread of SARS-CoV-2 variants in Austria, by analysing data sets from tiling amplicon sequenced wastewater samples. In the meantime his interest has broaden to general environmental surveillance of pathogens.

Csilla completed her PhD studies in Animal Physiology at the Comenius University in Bratislava. She joined the Bergthaler lab as a research assistant in September 2019. Since then, she has been involved in lab organization & management, but actively contributing to the projects of the lab members as well. Before taking a break to be at home with her baby, she worked on the project focusing on transmissible cancers affecting the Tasmanian devil population.

In her free time, she enjoys watching kdramas, reading, exercising and traveling.

Greg studied Mathematics with Computer Science at MIT. His PhD at EPFL was focused on finding patient zero of an epidemic from a mathematical perspective. Afterwards he was an SNSF Postdoc Mobility Fellow hosted at the Department of Network and Data Science at CEU Vienna, working on behavior-epidemic awareness models. He joined the Bergthaler Lab in 2024, and works on the new challenges in wasterwater-based epidemiology.

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Outside the lab, he is passionate about theater and exploring outdoors.

Vicky received her B.Sc. in Molecular Medicine at the University of Regensburg. She moved to Vienna to study Molecular Precision Medicine at the Medical University of Vienna and joined the Bergthaler group in 2023 as a student helper and Master student. She works on sequencing HPV samples and analysing them on coinfections and diversity.

In her free time she enjoys nature, theatre and boardgames.

Emily is a computational biologist with an interest in applying dry lab methods in the field epidemiology and public health research. She completed a bachelor's degree in Genetics at Cardiff University, UK and a master’s degree in Evolutionary Systems Biology at the University of Vienna, Austria. Her masters project focused on utilising and optimising bioinformatic tools to genetically characterise patient derived cancer cell lines. In December 2023, she joined the Bergthaler lab and is conducting research on forecasting public health outcomes using indicators derived from wastewater analysis. 

She co-founded the G:URL*s Coding Club to foster more inclusivity and empower underrepresented voices in the field of programming. The organisation provides a safe space for FLINTA* individuals to improve their coding skills and to connect with others.

Tamara Milic successfully completed the Commercial Academy (HAK) and subsequently applied to the Medical Universitiy of Vienna.

She currently works in the secretariat at Kinderspitalgasse 15, where she supports the team in various administrative tasks. In addition to general secretarial duties, she is also involved in accounting and human resources.

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In her free time, she enjoys reading and spending time with her family and friends.

Anna is a molecular biologist with a background in cancer research. She obtained her master’s degree from KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm before working as a researcher at a biotech spin-off (now RIANA Therapeutics), focusing on small molecule inhibitors targeting STAT5 in acute myeloid leukemia. She then started her PhD at the Vetmeduni Vienna, investigating transmissible cancer in Tasmanian devils, a project she is very passionate about and which took her to Tasmania for two months to encounter these unique animals in their natural habitat. She is completing her PhD as a guest researcher in the Bergthaler lab and particularly enjoys the independence of leading her own research project, as well as mentoring and teaching.

Outside the lab, she can often be found at the cinema, taking part in pub quizzes, and exploring new interests.