Doctoral Candidate Position 12 - University of Groningen the Netherlands
Routing of antigen in mitochondrial antigen presentation
Paula obtained her Bachelor's degree in Biochemistry from the University of Leipzig in 2020 and her Master's degree in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from University of Potsdam in 2025. For her Master Thesis at the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE) she investigated the membrane - condensate interaction of presynaptic proteins with differentially charged membranes and aimed to mick Lewy body (LB) maturation from February 2023 till March 2024.
In June 2025 she started pursuing her PhD in the group of Molecular Immunology under the supervision of Frans Bianchi and Geert van den Bogaart. There she aims to better elucidate the role of the immune system in Parkinson's Disease by investigating the processing of Parkinsons Disease related antigens.
Description of project
The research will begin by employing knockdown/knockout and overexpression techniques for proteins involved in membrane trafficking such as SNAP29, VAMP7, Rab7, Rab9, Syntaxin-17, and components of the HOPS tethering complex known to be involved in the processes of autophagy and antigen presentation. Using advanced light and electron microscopy, this step will aim to identify the intracellular pathways responsible for processing mitochondrial antigens in mitochondrial antigen presentation (MITAP).
Next, the mitochondrial antigen presentation assays developed bin collaboration with DC4 will be used to assess the effects of these genetic modifications, as well as the impact of drugs targeting various pathways in the intracellular routing and presentation of mitochondrial antigens for MITAP.
In the third step, the influence of LRRK2 mutations associated with Parkinson's disease on phagosome maturation, lysosomal function, mitochondrial metabolism, and MITAP will be evaluated using cutting-edge microscopy and molecular biology techniques.
Finally, a novel assay will be developed to detect T cells recognizing Parkinson's disease-related antigens in blood samples, utilizing our newly in house developed T-cell activation technique ProliSpot (patent pending).