Katharina is a Senior Scientist in the Synthetic Biology Platform with a strong background in neuroscience and stem cell applications. She received her M.S. in Biophysics, Biochemistry and Neuroscience, and obtained her Ph.D. in Molecular Biomedicine from the University of Bonn. Her Ph.D. work uncovered mechanisms causing mitochondrial dysfunction in progressive mitochondrial encephalomyopathies. She then pursued postdoctoral training in Bruce Yankner’s lab at Harvard Medical School, focusing on brain ageing and neurodegenerative diseases. Over time, her work evolved from developing translational in vitro models for Alzheimer’s disease to establishing a cerebral organoid model for accessing disease mechanisms of bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. At the Wyss, Katharina’s research involves advancing current applications of complex cellular 3D systems for modelling neuropsychiatric disorders, neurodegenerative diseases and neuroinflammatory processes. As part of the CircaVent platform, she focuses on improving currently available therapeutics as well as discovering new treatment options for bipolar disorder by implementing novel brain organoid models.