The Zuccaro Lab
One Goal. One Team.
In the Zuccaro Lab we foster a highly international and collaborative work environment, bringing together diverse perspectives from across the globe. We are committed to promoting equality within our team, ensuring that all voices are heard and valued. Our strength lies in our diversity, which drives creativity, innovation, and new ideas in our research. By embracing different backgrounds, experiences, and viewpoints, we create an inclusive atmosphere where everyone can thrive and contribute to the advancement of science.
Our History
The Zuccaro Lab in Cologne was established in 2013 by Prof. Alga Zuccaro. Since then our lab is dedicated to advancing the understanding of complex interactions between plants and microbes, with a strong focus on uncovering fundamental biological mechanisms. Over the years, we have become deeply integrated into multiple excellence clusters, collaborative research centers (CRCs), as well as national and international partnerships. As part of the University of Cologne, we work closely with academic and research institutions both within and beyond the university, driving innovative research and fostering collaborative and interdisciplinary discoveries.
Team Members
Dr. Gregor Langen
Group Leader
In 1998 Gregor was appointed Group Leader at the Institute of Phytopathology and Applied Zoology at the Justus Liebig University, Giessen. His research there centered on immunity of plants with focus on fungal pathogen recognition and signal transduction in barley and Arabidopsis. He joined the Zuccaro Lab in 2014 as a Group Leader.
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Contact
Phone: +49 (0) 221 470-1551
eMail: glangen1@uni-koeln.de
Margaret Kox
Secretary
Margaret has been the personal secretary of Alga Zuccaro and the administrative heart of the Zuccaro lab since 2016..
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Contact
Phone: +49 (0) 221 470-5259
eMail: mkox1@uni-koeln.de
Dr. Eileen Cors
Scientific Coordinator
Eileen completed her PhD in molecular biology at the Max Planck Institute for the Biology of Aging before joining the Zuccaro Lab as scientific coordinator of the iHEAD research initiative in March 2024.
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Contact
Phone: +49 (0) 221 470-90638
eMail: ecors1@uni-koeln.de
Dr. Aparna Ammanath
Data Manager
Aparna joined the iHEAD initiative in July 2025 to guide and support the consortia regarding data management & storage.
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Contact​
eMail: aammanat@uni-koeln.de
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Lisa Leson
Technical Assistant
Lisa worked as Biological Technical Assistant in two other groups, one at the Botanical Institute of the Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf and one at the University of Cologne before she joined the Zuccaro group in 2014.
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Contact
Phone: +49 (0) 221 470-2482
eMail: lisa.leson@uni-koeln.de
Tania Matsumoto
Technical Assistant
Tania has a Bachelor's degree in Biology (2001) and a Master's degree (2006) from the University of Sao Paulo, Brazil. She worked as a technical assistant in the University of Sao Paulo and at the Sarah Network of Hospitals in Brasilia and joined the Zuccaro Lab in 2020.
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Contact
Phone: +49 (0) 221 470-6471
eMail: tania.matsumoto@uni-koeln.de
George Alskief
Technical Assistant
George obtained his master's degree in agricultural science at the University of Bonn in 2018. He worked as a research technician at the Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research, the University of Düsseldorf, and the University of Bonn. He has been working in our group since 2022.
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Contact
Phone: +49 (0) 221 470-89988
eMail: george.alskief@uni-koeln.de
Asmamaw Endeshaw
Technical Assistant
Asmamaw joined the Zuccaro Lab in January 2022.​
Contact
Phone: +49 (0) 221 470-89988
eMail: aendesha@uni-koeln.de
Jennifer Scheffler
Technical Assistant
Jennifer joined the Zuccaro Lab in January 2025.​
Contact
Phone: +49 (0) 221 470-89996
eMail: jscheff7@uni-koeln.de
Dr. Laura Armbruster
Postdoc
Laura earned her PhD from the University of Heidelberg in 2022 and joined the Cluster of Excellence on Plant Sciences (CEPLAS) in Cologne in 2023 as a Postdoctoral Researcher. Her research focuses on the transcriptional regulation of plant-fungus interactions, with a particular interest in how beneficial fungi coordinate the expression of effector genes to successfully colonize host plants and outcompete rival microbes.
Dr. Mathias Brands
Postdoc
In his research, Mathias Brands focuses on the functions that lipids have during symbiotic plant-microbe interactions. Mathias obtained his doctoral degree (Dr. rer. nat.) at the University of Bonn in 2019 where he investigated lipid transfer between plants and arbuscular mycorrhiza fungi using experimental approaches from molecular biology, genetics, biochemistry and mass spectrometry.
Dr. Parisa Kakanj
Postdoc & Imaging Platform
Parisa is a cell, molecular and developmental biologist who specialises in multi-dimensional imaging of living systems. Trained under Maria Leptin, Linda Partridge, Diethard Tautz and Eileen Furlong, her work spans regeneration, wound healing, morphogenesis, metabolic signalling, ageing and genome organisation.
​Parisa joined the Zuccaro Lab with a CEPLAS fellowship in 2023.
Dr. Ernesto Llamas Pamanes
Postdoc
In 2018, Ernesto was awarded an Alexander von Humboldt postdoctoral fellowship to study plant proteostasis mechanisms at the Cluster of Excellence - Cellular Stress Responses in Aging-Associated Diseases (CECAD). Since 2021, Ernesto has been working within the Zuccaro Lab, part of the Cluster of Excellence on Plant Sciences (CEPLAS), where he studies proteostasis rewiring during plant-microbe interactions.
Dr. Lisa Mahdi
Postdoc
Lisa obtained her Master degree in Biology at the University of Cologne and the Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research Cologne in 2018. Her interest is in molecular plant-microbe interactions and cell death. The main objective of her PhD was to characterize molecular mechanisms underlying root-microbe multispecies interactions and cell death regulation during the accommodation of beneficial and pathogenic microbes in the root.
Natalie Peltz
PhD Candidate
Natalie obtained her Master's degrees in Biological Sciences in 2024 from the University of Cologne, where she investigated the genetic basis of Serendipita indica-mediated protection against Bipolaris sorokiniana in Arabidopsis thaliana. Now she is focusing on the molecular mechanisms driving root-fungal multispecies interactions for her Ph.D. studies with the Alga Zuccaro Lab.
Frederic Dreesmann
PhD Candidate
Frederic completed his undergraduate studies at Ruhr-Universität Bochum in 2018 and went on to receive his Master's degree in 2021, concentrating on ecology and phytopathology. His doctoral research centers on the transcriptomic dynamics regulating genes that facilitate host colonization by the beneficial endophyte fungus Serendipita indica.
Nick Dunken
PhD Candidate
Nick obtained his Master degree in Biological Sciences at the University of Cologne in 2020. During his studies he mainly focused on plant-microbe interaction, plant proteases and microbe-triggered cell death. In addition to his research at the university, Nick worked as an intern at the Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research and at KAUST in Saudi Arabia. The main objective of his PhD is to understand the role of cell death in plant-microbe interactions.
Ruben Eichfeld
PhD Candidate
Ruben obtained his Bachelor's degree at the University of Münster in 2019 and his Master's degree at the University of Düsseldorf and Cologne in 2022 in the frame of the CEPLAS Graduate School. In his PhD project he focuses on the molecular mechanisms underlying plant-protective fungus-fungus interactions.
Sena Parlak
PhD Candidate
Sena completed her Master's degree at the Heinrich Heine University in Düsseldorf. In October 2021, she joined the CEPLAS Graduate School. During her studies, she mainly focused on pathogenic and beneficial plant-microbe interactions. The main objective of her PhD is to understand the genetic basis of plant-microbe associations in Brassicaceae and Hordeum species.
Tim Thomsen
PhD Candidate
Tim obtained his Bachelor’s degree in Molecular and Applied Plant Sciences (MAP) in 2022 and his Master’s degree in Plant Biotechnology in 2024 from the Leibniz University Hannover (LUH). Being part of the IMPRS research school program of the Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research (MPIPZ), his PhD project focuses on uncovering the genetic basis of plant-microbe associations in Brassicaceae and Hordeum species exposed to environmental challenges.
Alexander Mandel
PhD Candidate
Alex obtained his bachelor’s degree in 2021 and his master’s degree in 2025 at the University of Cologne. After conducting his bachelor’s thesis in the Zuccaro lab, he stayed in the group to work as an assistant on different projects within the field of plant-microbe interactions. For his master’s thesis, he joined the Parker lab at Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research (MPIPZ) to study immunostimulatory small molecule (SM) signalling in Arabidopsis thaliana. His PhD project aims to elucidate the role of immunostimulatory SMs in beneficial and pathogenic plant-microbe interactions.
Ashmita Ray
WHK
Ashmita joined the Zuccaro group in 2024 as a student assistant within the framework of the Plantman project led by Dr. Ernesto Llamas Pamanes.
Taim Nassr
WHK - Bioinformatic
In July 2025 Taim joined our group with a CRC Cell Death fellowship to support our group in bioinformatic analyses of NGS data.
Niloofar Najari
WHB
Within the framework of the iHEAD Profilbildungsinitiative 2022 Niloofar joined our team in 2024.
Our Alumni
Postdoctoral Researcher
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Sinaeda Anderssen
Dr. Niu Yulong
Dr. Chris Stephens
Dr. Concetta De Quattro
Dr. Shingo Miyauchi
Dr. Balakumaran Chandrasekar
Dr. Stephan Wawra
Dr. Hannah Rövenich
Ganga Jeena​
Dr. Xiaoyu Qiang
Dr. Urs Lahrmann
Dr. Shadab​​ Nizam
Dr. Monika Sharma
Dr. Stephanie Pfiffi
Doctoral Researchers
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Dr. Nick Dunken
​Dr. Pia Saake
Dr. Patricia Zecua
​Dr. Lisa Mahdi
Dr. Philip Fesel
Dr. Heidi Widmer
Dr. Debika Sarkar
Dr. Alan Wanke
Dr. Robin Nostadt
Dr. Magdalena Basiewicz
Dr. Magdalena Hilbert
Dr. Yi Ding
Dr. Urs Lahrmann​​​​
Student Researchers
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Alex W. Yan
Giulia Peruzzi
​Thomas Kell
Alexander Mandel
Stanislav Kopriva
Bianca Griebel
Pia Saake
Ruben Eichfeld
Natalie Pletz
Nyasha Charura
Marco Compano
Sena Parlak​
Nick Dunken
Phillip Fesel
Gulliermo Chumaceiro
Teres M. Jacob
Bianca Griebel
Anna Sophie Wendel
Lieselotte I. Diester
Robin Nostadt
Lucia Schmitz
Stefanie Velte
Carolin Grimm
Maximilian Hesse
Jana Kastner
​Laura Behner
Leona Kessler
Phillip Katzy
Florian Schwanke
Hannah Kleyer