Team

Klaus Kratochwill has been leading the research activities of the Pediatric Nephrology Laboratory at the Medical University of Vienna since 2007. With the foundation of Zytoprotec, he was also appointed Head of the R&D Laboratory and was involved in all translational research steps in the development of PD-protec™, from preclinical research, via patenting to first-use-in man. Dr. Kratochwill obtained his “Habilitation” (venia docendi) at the Medical University of Vienna for Medical Biochemistry in March 2015 after returning from a research stay at the Harvard Medical School in Boston.  Klaus Kratochwill is one of the leading researchers in proteomics in PD and has been a full partner of the EuTRiPD consortium.

Rebecca Herzog studied biomedical sciences at the Vienna University of Applied Sciences and received a PhD degree from the Medical University of Vienna. She is entrusted with various in-vitro and in-vivo models and bioassay development. She is also in charge of planning and implementation of the experiments and new techniques, interpretation of data, as well as organizational arrangements (infrastructure, training of new employees, SOPs, documentation, quality management, supply management). Rebecca Herzog completed a research fellowship at the group of Manuel López-Cabrera in Madrid before the start of the CDL-MSRPD to acquire additional knowledge on the chronic mouse PD model which will be employed in WP2.

Anja Wagner studied biomedicine and biotechnology at the Vienna University of Veterinary Medicine. She has already gained experience during her diploma on mass spectrometric analyses and is entrusted mainly with two-dimensional gel electrophoresis and mass spectrometry based protein identification.

Isabel Sobieszek studied genetics at the Universities in Salzburg and Vienna. Her responsibilities include processing clinical samples, cultivation of cells, stimulation with stressors, isolation of proteins, determination of the degree of cytotoxic injuries, analysis of protein expression, and microscopic studies. She will be also involved in sample processing and shipment of the PD-BASE biobank.

Elisabeth Lang studied chemistry and spanish teaching at the University of Vienna. Her tasks include sample preparation for proteomics, TMT labeling and LC-MS based proteomics analyses.

Katja Parapatics holds a Master's degree in Mass Spectrometry and Molecular Analytics from the University of Applied Sciences Joanneum, Graz. She is entrusted with proteomics analysis, including sample preparation, TMT labeling and LC-MS based proteomics analyses as well as instrument maintenance and method development.

Markus Unterwurzacher currently focuses on biostatistics and programming as well as basic IT support. He was involved in the development of the PD-BASE repository at emergentec GmbH. He has a bachelor’s degree in biomedical informatics at the UMIT (Hall in Tirol). He serves both teams by scripting data intensive analysis tasks with the aid of statistical programming languages, such as R and our virtual server environment, hosted by the Medical University.

Ionida Ziba has a diploma in Molecular Biology from the University of Vienna and is responsible for the scientific project administration and management. She supports the interdisciplinary team in correspondence, editorial work as well as outreach activities.

Fabian Eibensteiner joined our laboratory in January 2022. After finishing his medical studies, he started his residency training at the Department of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine at the Medical University of Vienna with a clinical focus on Pediatric Nephrology in January 2020. He currently performs his PhD studies within the POeT program at the Medical University of Vienna. His research focuses on modelling of the peritoneal membrane function in context of peritoneal inflammation, clinical factors, and multi-omics approaches.

Lisa Daniel-Fischer joined our laboratory in October 2019. She studied human medicine at the Medical University of Vienna and started her residency at the Department of Pediatrics in April 2019. Her research focuses on the microbiome and metabolome in uremic and PD patients, especially considering the pediatric cohort. Lisa Daniel-Fischer performs her PhD studies within the POeT-program at the Medical University of Vienna.

Juan Manuel Sacnun joined our laboratory in September 2019. He studied biotechnology at the Universidad Nacional de Rosario, Argentina. He is a PhD student within the IMPROVE-PD consortium an EU funded Horizon 2020 Marie Skłodowska-Curie ITN Programme, supervised by Dr. Kratochwill and Dr. Herzog. His main focus is studying the role of new additives in PD fluids in a cardiovascular context.

Nadja Šupčíková studied biomedical physics and she is doing her PhD at the Institute of molecular biomedicine at the Comenius University, Bratislava in Slovakia. Her research focuses on ecDNA and EVs and their role in renal diseases. Nadja joined our lab in November 2022 with a SAIA national scholarship. The main focus of her internship in our lab is to study the role of ecDNA and EVs in PD.

Paul Stille joined our laboratory in March 2022. He studies human medicine at the Medical University of Vienna. Paul works on his diploma thesis which focuses on establishing a protocol for sample preparation for MALDI imaging and further on visualizing the proteomic changes in peritoneal tissue under peritoneal dialysis using MALDI-Imaging.

Laurin Groier studies human medicine at the Medical University of Vienna. He joined our laboratory in February 2023. His diploma thesis focuses on changes of the metabolic configuration of mesothelial cells in the peritoneum during PD.

Su studies human medicine at the Medical University of Vienna. She joined our laboratory in May 2023 and will be writing her diploma thesis focused on point-of-care testing possibilities for PD-complications using FTIR.