Team

Jun.-Prof. Dr. Charles Imbusch, MBA

Charles is a bioinformatician by training and leads the research group Quantitative Biomedicine at the University Medical Center Mainz. He is also affiliated with the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), where he heads the Computational Oncoimmunology team. Outside of work, when his two children allow, Charles enjoys playing badminton, flying gliders (a past hobby), and exploring entrepreneurship.

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Ekaterina Esenkova (Postdoctoral Researcher)

Ekaterina Esenkova is a postdoctoral researcher in the Imbusch Lab. She studied Master in Bioinformatics and completed her Master’s thesis at EMBL Heidelberg, where she worked on metabolomics and genome-scale metabolic network analysis in the context of the human gut microbiome. She recently completed her PhD in Computational Biomedicine, focusing on multi-omics data integration and longitudinal analysis in heart failure cohorts as part of the DIASyM consortium. Her research interests include computational biology, systems medicine, and the integration of multi-layer molecular data to better understand complex diseases.

Contact: [email protected]

Farhad Faghihi (PhD student)

Farhad is a PhD student at the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), focusing on unraveling the underlying facts about tumor dormancy, exploiting cutting-edge sequencing and computational techniques. He studied biotechnology in Iran for his master’s. Farhad is eager to collaborate with elite scientists around the world, as he believes science is developed not in isolation but in cooperation. Outside of work, Farhad enjoys spending time with his wife.

Contact: [email protected]

Rahma Qadeer (PhD student)

Rahma is a doctoral researcher at the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), where she investigates the mechanisms regulating anti-tumor immune responses in lung cancer. She completed her Master’s thesis at DKFZ, employing machine learning alongside single-cell, bulk, and spatial transcriptomics to study the tumor immune microenvironment of brain metastases. She is passionate about utilizing AI and analytical pipelines to enhance the understanding of complex biological systems and drive advancements in immunotherapy research.

Joachim Seebass (PhD student)

Joachim is a former physics student who transitioned into the interdisciplinary field of bioinformatics during his master’s studies at the German Cancer Research Center where he met Charles. There, he completed a master’s thesis that combined his strong physical background with current biological research. While working on the thesis he found the topics so interesting and fascinating that he decided to continue his research in this area.

Contact: [email protected]

Yuxuan Zheng (PhD student)

Yuxuan is a PhD student, studying cancer biology and tumor immunology with a focus on the tumor microenvironment. He holds a Master’s degree in Clinical Medicine and previously worked on cancer oncogenes. His current research centers on advancing single-cell analysis to better understand cellular interactions driving cancer development.

Lenart Žežlina (PhD student)

Lenart is a PhD student in the Quantitative Biomedicine research group at University Medical Center Mainz. With a background in Applied Statistics and Molecular Biology, he focuses on understanding T cell subpopulations and collaborates with the DKFZ to study extrachromosomal DNA in pancreatic cancer. Lenart is interested in the integration of statistical methodologies with biological research.

Contact: [email protected]

Linda Welte (Bioinformatics and Data Management)

Linda has a biomedical background and transitioned to bioinformatics during her Master’s where she joined Charles’ team at the DKFZ for her Master’s thesis. Now, she continues her work in the Quantitative Biomedicine group while also providing support in data management & IT. In her leisure time, Linda enjoys an active lifestyle with gym training, bouldering, and yoga. She is also passionate about personal development and diving deeper into the world of Data Science and AI.

Contact: [email protected]

Norma Wendel (Bioinformatics and Data Management)

Norma is part of our bioinformatics and data management team, contributing to the technical infrastructure that supports our research efforts.

Prashanth Sridhar (Master’s student in Computational Biology and Bioinformatics, University of Göttingen)

Prashanth is a Master’s student in Computational Biology and Bioinformatics at the University of Göttingen and has joined the Quantitative Biomedicine group for his thesis. His work focuses on applying computational methods to single-cell data to investigate tissue-associated immune programs across different immune cell types, with particular emphasis on circulating regulatory T cells in cancer.

Christos Nousias (Master’s student in Systems Biology, University of Heidelberg)

Christos is a Master’s student in Systems Biology at Heidelberg University, with a background in Biotechnology. He joined the group as part of his studies to gain more experience in exploring immunology computationally. He has experience in data analysis with various omics technologies and enjoys the programming side of the work just as much as the biology behind it.

Contact: [email protected]