Personnel

Dr. Martina Korfei, Postdoc

Martina received her doctoral degree in 2002 from the faculty of Chemistry, department of Biochemistry, at Marburg University, in the field of pathogen-induced plant defense. Driven by her interest in medical topics, she joined Giessen University Hospital after completing her doctorate, gaining her first postdoctoral experience in the field of neuroimmunology. She then worked successfully in the field of basic research of fibrosing lung diseases in Giessen for more than 15 years. Due to her strong interest in uncovering biological signaling pathways underlying chronic stress and depression, and in the development of novel therapeutic strategies for these conditions, she recently joined the Neuroepigenetics working group. Currently, she investigates how a novel enriched environment positively affects mood and the brain. In her free time, Martina enjoys attending 80s music concerts, swimming, and is also passionate about cooking and grilling.

Institute of Biochemistry and Biophysics
Friedrich Schiller University Jena
Hans-Knöll-Str. 2, D-07745 Jena
CMB, Level 4

martina.korfei@uni-jena.de

Dr. Lisa Lange, Technical assistant

Lisa received her diploma in bioinformatics in 2011 and then did her phd in cell biology, where she researched cell cycle kinases. Since completing her doctoral thesis, she has been working in various working groups here at the institute as a technical employee and has been part of the Neuroepigenetics working group since mid-2022. In addition to orders, billing and bureaucracy, she also works in the lab and tries to find out with ChIP experiments why stress can be endured better in old age than at a young age. To counteract the stress, she likes to do speedcubing or throws colorful balls in patterns in the air.

Institute of Biochemistry and Biophysics
Friedrich Schiller University Jena
Hans-Knöll-Str. 2, D-07745 Jena
CMB, Level 4

lisa.lange@uni-jena.de
Telephone number: 03641 9395734

Sophia Badieva Vedi, Technical assistant

Sophia earned her master’s degree in Molecular Life Sciences and has been working as a technical assistant in the Neuroepigenetics group since 2025. During her master’s studies, she investigated RNA-Scope as a method to quantify biomarkers in the mouse brain and established the potential of a novel enriched environment (NEE) to reverse the effects of chronic stress in mice.

As a technical assistant, she supports the team with lab maintenance, administrative tasks, and ongoing research projects such as studying stress resilience in aged versus young mice and further investigating the mechanisms underlying the stress-reversing effects of NEE.

Institute of Biochemistry and Biophysics
Friedrich Schiller University Jena
Hans-Knöll-Str. 2, D-07745 Jena
CMB, Level 4

sophia.badieva.vedi@uni-jena.de

Gregor Stein, PhD student

Gregor received his Bachelor's degree in 2020 in Biochemistry and his Master's degree in Molecular Medicine in 2022. During his Master thesis he studied age-dependent alterations of the GABAergic system within hippocampal neural stem cells in the group of PD Dr. Keiner. Currently, he performs his Ph.D. within our working group, where he examines pathways and functions of one MDD associated receptor. To prevent the Ph.D. associated risk for developing MDD he enjoys playing chess as compensation.

Institute of Biochemistry and Biophysics
Friedrich Schiller University Jena
Hans-Knöll-Str. 2, D-07745 Jena
CMB, Level 4

gregor.stein@uni-jena.de
Telephone number: 03641 9395734

Lykke Fritzsche, Masterstudent

Lykke joined the team for her master thesis in molecular medicine at the Friedrich-Schiller-University in Jena. Early as in school her passion for DNA and research manifested leading to the bachelor’s degree in molecular and technical medicine in 2024 at Furtwangen University in Schwenningen.  As the interest in working with DNA deepened, she established a new biomarker for methylation assays to identify the intestinal mucosa in her bachelor’s thesis. This was the kickoff for getting into epigenetics and the master’s further introduced the connection between neuroscience and epigenetics leading to the interest of wanting to work with neuroepigenetics and finding her favorite field of research. In her master’s thesis she will work on the comparison of a novel potential antidepressant to citalopram in a depression mouse model. In order to keep her sanity Lykke loves to paint by numbers as she likes to work with paint but has poor skills in painting. She also enjoys reading novels to get a change of pace from reading scientific papers.

Institute of Biochemistry and Biophysics
Friedrich Schiller University Jena
Hans-Knöll-Str. 2, D-07745 Jena
CMB, Level 4

lykke.fritzsche@uni-jena.de