Schwarzer Lab – Team

Schwarzer Lab · Team

MEET THE LAB

Use the profile button on each card to read a short biography.

Dr. Hannah S. Schwarzer-Sperber Group Leader

Room 3.041
Tel. 0201/723-82863
hannah.schwarzer-sperber@uk-essen.de

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Dr. Hannah S. Schwarzer-Sperber

Group Leader

Hannah Schwarzer-Sperber is a virologist and co-leader of the Schwarzer Lab since 2024. Her work focuses on HIV latency, immune regulation, and emerging virus mechanisms, with a strong background in translational virology and systems biology. She trained in San Francisco and Essen and has coauthored publications on HIV persistence, glucocorticoid receptor modulators, and coronavirus inhibitors.

Dr. Roland Schwarzer Group Leader

Room 2.045
Tel. 0201/723-4343
Roland.Schwarzer@uk-essen.de

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Dr. Roland Schwarzer

Group Leader

Roland Schwarzer is a virologist and co-leader of the Schwarzer Lab with expertise in viral persistence and immune regulation. His research focuses on how viruses such as HIV establish long-term reservoirs and evade immune control, with the goal of informing cure strategies. After training at Humboldt University Berlin, the Weizmann Institute, and the Gladstone Institutes, he has authored more than 25 peer-reviewed publications on HIV latency, immune modulation, and emerging viruses.

Dr. Luisa Betke Postdoc

Room 3.041
Tel. 0201/723-82863
Luisa.Betke@uk-essen.de

Dr. Luisa Betke

Postdoc

Luisa Betke is a postdoctoral researcher in the Schwarzer Lab since April 2025. Her work focuses on HIV reservoir size and transcriptional activity in clinical samples to better understand viral persistence. She completed her doctorate at UK Essen in the Fleischhauer group and collaborated with the Trilling group on CMV immune response modulation.

Lisa Weber Doctoral Student

Room 3.041
Tel. 0201/723-83483
Lisa.Weber2@uk-essen.de

Lisa Weber

Doctoral Student

Lisa Weber is a doctoral researcher in the Schwarzer Lab since May 2024. She studies HIV persistence in female-specific tissues, particularly endometrium and placenta, in a project supported by the Jürgen Manchot Foundation. Her work aims to understand how latent reservoirs are established and maintained in the reproductive tract, including during pregnancy.

Tina Dluzak Doctoral Student

Room 2.049
Tel. 0201/723-4768
Tina.Dluzak@uk-essen.de

Tina Dluzak

Doctoral Student

Tina Dluzak is a doctoral researcher in the Schwarzer Lab since May 2025. Her work investigates how hantaviruses reprogram host-cell structures and processes, with the goal of identifying molecular targets for antiviral intervention. She brings previous experience in microbiology and antimicrobial materials research and contributes to the lab’s work on hantavirus infection and host-pathogen interactions.

Ann Therese Paraguya, B.Sc. Technical Assistant

Room 2.054
Tel. 0201/723-82862

Ann Therese Paraguya, B.Sc.

Technical Assistant

Ann Therese Paraguya joins the Schwarzer Lab with a background in medical biology and ongoing M.Sc. training in biosciences, with a focus on virology and immunology. She brings practical experience in clinical sample processing, PBMC isolation, primary-cell work, cell culture, flow cytometry, qPCR, immunoassays, and metabolic profiling. Her previous work included HIV-AAD clinical sample workflows and studies on type I interferons and dendritic-cell function.

Alumni

Former lab members. Ordered from newest to oldest.

Tamara Mussfeldt

Former BTA

Apr 2021 – Mar 2026

Dr. Zehra Karaköse

Former Postdoc

Feb 2024 – Feb 2026

Eva Müller

Former Doctoral Student

Sep 2022 – Dec 2025

Nahara Souza Leite

Former Master's Student

Nov 2024 – Nov 2025

Yasmin Yusuf

Master's Student

Mar 2024 – Jul 2024

Julia Graute

Master's Student

Oct 2023 – Mar 2024

Samson Folami

Guest Student

Sep 2023 – Jan 2024

Katharina Hock

Master's Student

Apr 2023 – Nov 2023

Rieke Wingenfeld

Bachelor Student

Apr 2023 – Sep 2023

Balkissa Mountessoumoun

Master's Student

Sep 2022 – Aug 2023

Forooz Afiuny

Bachelor Student

Oct 2022 – Apr 2023

Vivienne Schneider

Master's Student

Apr 2022 – Feb 2023

Maria Leonhardt

Bachelor Student

Apr 2022 – Nov 2022

Carolin Kruth

Master's Student jointly with Sutter lab

Feb 2022 - Aug 2022

Laila Smaina

Master's Student

Sep 2021 – Jun 2022

Frederic Borkamp

Bachelor Student & Research Assistant

Apr 2021 – Apr 2022