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.
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..
Contact
Phone: +49 (0) 221 470-5259
eMail: mkox1@uni-koeln.de
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.
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 at the University of Sao Paulo and at the Sarah Network of Hospitals in Brasilia and joined the Zuccaro Lab in 2020.
Contact
Phone: +49 (0) 221 470-6471
eMail: tania.matsumoto@uni-koeln.de
Jennifer Scheffler
Technical Assistant
Jennifer joined the Zuccaro lab in January 2025..
Contact
Phone: +49 (0) 221 470 89997
eMail: jscheff7@uni-koeln.de
Dr. Parisa Kakanj
Head of CEPLAS 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.
Dr. Nick Dunken
Postdoc
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 was to understand the role of cell death in plant-microbe interactions.
Dr. Florian Kümmel
Postdoc
Florian joined the Zuccaro group in July 2026.
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.
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.
Anooshay Khan
PhD Candidate
Anooshay holds an MSc degree in Neurosciences. Currently she is pursuing her PhD in the Zuccaro lab where she is developing synthetic plant-based proteins for the treatment of neurodegenerative disorders, with a primary focus on Huntingdon's disease and ALS.
Stanislav Kopriva
PhD Candidate
Stanislav obtained his Bachelor degree in Biology in 2024 at the University of Cologne. His thesis in the Zuccaro Lab focussed on Serendipita indica effectors during multi-species interactions. In October 2024, he joined the CEPLAS Graduate School and in October 2025 started his PhD back in the Zuccaro Lab.
Alexander Mandel
PhD Candidate
Alex obtained his Bachelor degree in 2021 and his Master degree in 2025 at the University of Cologne. After conducting his Bachelor 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 thesis, he joined the Parker Lab at the 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.
Niloofar Najari
WHB
Niloofar joined our team in 2024 within the framework of the iHEAD Profilbildungsinitiative 2022.
Our Alumni
Postdoctoral Researchers
Dr. Mathias Brands
Dr. Pouria Bahrami
Dr. Laura Armbruster
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
Dr. Ruben Eichfeld
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
Frederic Dreesmann
Alex W. Yan
Ashmita Ray
Giulia Peruzzi
Thomas Kell
Alexander Mandel
Stanislav Kopriva
Bianca Griebel
Pia Saake
Ruben Eichfeld
Natalie Peltz
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