Group leader/ Principal Investigator
Prof. Dr. Eva Wolf
Email: evawolf1@uni-mainz.de
Phone: 06131-39-21701
Eva Wolf obtained her PhD in Structural Biology at the EMBL Heidelberg in 1996. She then performed postdoctoral studies at the Rockefeller University in New York. Since 2000 she has led her own research group on Structural Chronobiology at the Max-Planck-Institutes in Dortmund and Martinsried as well as the LMU in Munich. In 2013, she became a professor for Structural Biology at the Johannes-Gutenberg University in Mainz. Her main interest is to understand the molecular mechanisms underlying circadian and circalunar rhythms.
Lab management/ Post doc
Dr. Torsten Merbitz-Zahradnik
Email: merbitzz@uni-mainz.de
Phone: 06131-39-27430
Torsten joined the group in 2014. He obtained his PhD in Biochemistry at the Goethe Universität in Frankfurt in 2000. After postdoctoral work, eg. at Dartmouth Medical School, USA, the MPI for Molecular Physiology, Dortmund, and the Butenandt Institute of LMU in Munich, he is running the laboratory and has administrative and teaching responsibilities. He has extensive experience in protein biochemistry, biophysics and assay development. His current project investigates the role of PER2 within the Circadian Clock and with respect to its cellular function.
PhD Candidates
Dr. Florian Hof
Email: flohof@uni-mainz.de
Phone: 06131-39-26189
Florian joined the group in 2021. Florian graduated from UAS Bingen in 2018 and deepened his molecular biology background at the University of Frankfurt during his master studies. For his PhD he delved into the field of structural chronobiology, investigating protein-protein interactions with the mammalian circadian clock.
Ha Hong Vu
Email: honvu@uni-mainz.de
Phone: 06131-39-27463
Ha joined the group in 2021 after earning his master’s degree from Kyungpook National University in Daegu, South Korea. His research centers on the molecular mechanisms that enable a marine cryptochrome to respond to varying light intensities. This work aims to deepen our understanding of how marine organisms anticipate the lunar cycle for their reproduction.
Baris Cakilkaya
Email: bcakilka@uni-mainz.de
Phone: 06131-39-30140
Baris joined the group in September 2022 after receiving his master’s degree from Koc University. He is working on clock protein interactions to gain insights into the molecular mechanisms underlying circadian gene regulation.
Vinitha Lakshmi Venkadasamy
Email: vvenkada@uni-mainz.de
Phone: 06131-39-31572
Vinitha joined the lab in 2024. She earned her master’s degree at Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf. She is currently working on understanding the role of a light-sensitive cryptochrome in the circalunar rhythm of a marine worm. She aims to understand the cellular and molecular mechanism underlying cryptochrome’s light sensitivity and its downstream interactions.
Gargi Mahajan
Email: gmahajan@uni-mainz.de
Phone: 06131-39-31566
Gargi joined the group in 2024. She completed her master’s degree in Biotechnology at the University of Hyderabad and subsequently worked as a Junior Research Fellow in the Laboratory of GPCR Biology at IIT Kanpur. Her PhD research focuses on investigating the downstream interactors of the light-sensitive cryptochrome in the marine worm Platynereis dumerilii.
Sophia Remers
Email: soremers@uni-mainz.de
Phone: 06131-39-31859
Sophia joined the group in 2025. She received her BSc. in Molecular Biology in 2023 from the University of Mainz. She then completed her MSc. in Cell and Molecular biology at Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nürnberg, before returning to Mainz for her PhD. In her PhD project, she investigates evolutionary aspects of circadian regulation.
Lab Technician
Silke Helmke
Email: helmsi00@uni-mainz.de
Phone: 06131-39-26218
Secretary
Juliane Cox
Email: julcox@uni-mainz.de
Phone: 06131-39-32239
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