We are very happy to announce that Lena Grubišić will start her PhD in our lab in Summer 2026.

Lena first joined the team in July 2025 as a technician and quickly became an integral part of the team! She realized she wanted to develop and grow her own project, she will join the SFB1479 Oncoescape and lead the project Dysregulation of the B cell compartment in MPN patients.

She completed her Master’s degree in 2024 in the group of Prof. Warnatz, focusing on the Role of STAT1 in primary human B cells. Before starting her PhD, she gained additional experience in industry during her time at Roche in Basel.

Now we are excited to see her develop her project and wish her a great start to her PhD!

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Great things from great collaborations! Together with the Lab of Hartmut Hengel at the Dept of Virology we discovered a new way in which B cells can hijack the adaptive immune system. We show that CMV viral glycoprotein can specifically target IgG+ memory B cells. This study is now out in EMBO Molecular Medicine.

Precious Cramer and Stefan Neys great job!! And thanks to all contributors for this collaborative work!

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We want to congratulate Daniela Dinse (Molecular Medicine) and Luzia Hötger (Biology), who recently defended their theses, both with excellent results – well done!

We are very happy to have so many motivated Master students in the Rizzi Lab across Freiburg and Vienna. Currently, Drit Hoxha (Molecular Medicine), Anastasiia Rasina (Molecular Precision Medicine), Agnes Seifert, Barbara Kühn, Leona Galle and Katharina Seus (all Biology) are part of the team, contributing to different projects and bringing in fresh ideas.

Working with Master students is an important part of our lab, and we really value the exchange and energy they bring!

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… and it’s out! Our latest work on early B cell development is now published in Blood Advances!

This study was a great collaborative effort between the Rizzi and the Mirjam van der Burg labs!

We identify an acquired non-permissive bone marrow microenvironment as a key obstacle to B cell reconstitution after HSCT. In a unique twin setting of X-linked lymphoproliferative disease (XLP), we show that impaired stromal support, rather than HSC-intrinsic defects alone, can drive long-lasting defects in B lymphopoiesis despite full donor chimerism.

A huge thank you to all collaborators for the great teamwork and discussions throughout this project — and special kudos to Melanie de Gier and everyone involved!

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We are very happy to welcome Ana to the Freiburg Lab as a visiting scientist from January to April!

Ana joins us through an EMBO fellowship and will be working closely with Stefan on a project focused on Diacylglycerol Kinase ζ (DGKζ) in human B cells. DGKζ is a key regulator of B cell activation and differentiation. Ana will use advanced gene-editing approaches to study its function in primary human B cells.

She comes from the group of Yolanda R. Carrasco in Madrid, where she studies B cell biology with a focus on mechanisms of B cell activation and immune regulation.

We are excited about this exchange and the new insights it will bring. Welcome to the lab, Ana – and to Freiburg!

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In December, the Freiburg and Vienna labs spent three days together for our annual retreat, this time in Elzach!

We shared project updates, progress reports, and plenty of discussions – a great chance to connect across sites and keep the team aligned. Of course, the retreat wasn’t just about science – we also had a lot of fun cooking, laughing, and played Tombola!

It was a productive and enjoyable few days, and we’re already looking forward to the next retreat!

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We are very happy to share a new review led by our PhD student Franziska Schmidt on human B lymphopoiesis.

The review discusses key challenges in B cell reconstitution in clinical settings such as HSCT, and highlights recent advances in in vitro modeling approaches to better study human B cell development.

Together, these systems are helping to close important gaps in our understanding of how human B cells develop and how reconstitution can be improved.

Great work, Franzi!

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We are very happy to have Roser Vilarrasa-Blasi visit our Vienna Lab this week!

Roser is currently an EMBO-MSCA postdoctoral fellow in the Vento-Tormo group at the Wellcome Sanger Institute (UK), where she combines single-cell and computational approaches to study both fetal and adult early B cell development in the bone marrow.

During her visit, she is collaborating closely with Jakov Korzhenevich and Franziska Schmidt on establishing in vitro cultures that mimic human B lymphopoiesis.

For us, these kinds of collaborations are essential – bringing together different expertise and perspectives to move projects forward.

Welcome to Vienna and a special “Wellcome” from our side as well!

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The Rizzi Lab attended the B Cell Forum in Bamberg from March 19–21.

It was a great meeting bringing together B cell researchers from different universities and institutes, creating a very open and engaging atmosphere for scientific exchange.

Members of our lab contributed with talks and poster presentations, sharing ongoing work and discussing new ideas with the community. We are especially proud that Marta was selected as the new speaker of the B cell study group!

Overall, it was a fantastic opportunity to connect with the B cell community, exchange ideas and get inspired. Looking forward to the next one in Königswinter in March 2026!

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At last year’s Christmas party at Marta’s home, we noticed something interesting: she has two identical clocks hanging in her living room – because “somehow one is always a few minutes off.”

So… for her birthday, we thought it only made sense to continue the system and add two more for the office.

Now she is fully equipped with double timekeeping, just in case one clock decides to take a break again..

Happy Birthday, Marta!

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Chiara Brand is joining our Freiburg Lab partly with a dual role of lab and administrative assistant, she will be supporting experiments and helping to handle bureaucratic tasks. Chiara is not new to Freiburg and B cells, she did her Master Thesis in Warnatz Lab and did an Internship at Novartis Basel with our friend Elisabetta Traggiai. Looking forward to working with you!

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For two days we welcomed Medical Doctor and PhD candidates and Postdoc from Freiburg, Strasbourg and Basel to discuss Translational Immunology with focus on Tissue specific Immunity and Inborn Errors of Immunity. Spearheading the organization and scientific direction Rizzi Lab with Julian Staniek for Freiburg and Prof Anne Sophie Korganow, and Stephan Giorgiutt from the Uni Strasbourg.

Wonderful meeting!

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The collaborative work between the Vincent Gies Lab, Anne-Sophie Korganow Lab and the RizziLab has been published in Nature Communication! We found the anti-phospholipid (APS) specific B cells, cloned them and characterized their antigen receptors. We found that APS specificity is already present in the naive compartment and fails to be eliminated during the germinal center reaction. Not only APS specific memory B cells show signs of affinity maturation and are found in the bone marrow plasma cell compartment! Large collaborative effort, a lot of great discussion and many, many analyzed clones! Kudos to Yannick Dieudonné and Raquel Lorenzetti for this great work! C’est magnifique!

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We have a new Postdoc in the Vienna Lab! Michael Svaton, MD PhD, he was trained in the laboratories of Eva Fronkova in the Charles University of Prague, and followed by a Postdoc in Kaan Botzug laboratory at the St. Anna Children’s Hospital in Vienna. Michael has a great bioinformatics experience in genetics, BCR repertoire and single cells data analysis… We are looking forward to work with you!

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We welcome our new Postdoc in the Freiburg Lab. Stefan Neys did his PhD in the laboratory of Rudi Hendriks at Erasmus MC in Rotterdam. We are happy to have a real signalling expert in our group.

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Franziska has received the prestigious publication award from the Center for Pathophysiology, Infectiology and Immunology in Vienna during this year’s annual retreat. The award highlights Franzi’s exceptional research contributions and her dedication to advancing the field of immunology. This achievement is a testament to her hard work and the collaborative spirit of our team. Looking forward to her future progress in the lab!

Link to the Paper

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What an honor to be a speaker of the Klaus Goerttler Session of the German Society for Cytometry (DGfZ)! Wonderful discussion and a great meeting! A special thank to the the president (and old friend) Hendrick Mei for the warm welcome, to my co-speaker Christian Busse and to Annika Betzler, Klaus Goerttler Awardee 2023 for chairing the session!

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We got together to review all projects, discuss our data and plan the future work! Lots of positive energy and motivation out of these 3 days of science! Thanks to our invited guests Tomas Kalina (Charles University of Prague), Stefan Neys (Erasmus MC) and Michael Svaton (St. Anna Children’s Hospital) for their contribution!

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We studied the B Cell Reconstitution Failure in ANCA-Associated Vasculitis: Our work provides critical insights into the reasons behind the frequent failure of B cell reconstitution in ANCA-associated vasculitis (AAV) patients following B cell depletion therapy.

Check out a concise overview on X/Twitter or LinkedIn.

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Congratulations to Dr. Julian Staniek! His work on the new function of FAS receptor in modulating B cell activation received this prestigious price from CIBSS!

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We welcome Dr. Franziska Keller to the lab! It’s nice to have you back with us (we all remember the fun Master thesis time!). We are looking forward to your ideas, energy and organization!

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The two cross-border projects will strengthen cooperation between Strasbourg and Freiburg.

→ Link to News on CIBSS-Website

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Starting February, Claudia Chercoles from the University of Barcelona joined our lab to absolve her practical training and final thesis project in the frame the Erasmus exchange.

We look forward to introduce you to our favourite cells!

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Our Vienna lab is growing! Starting February we welcome Katerina Kochmannova, she will absolve her Master Thesis project in our group. Welcome to the group Katerina, have fun with B cells!

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Why is B cell development disturbed in patients with FAS mutations (ALPS)? Find out the answer in our latest work!

You can find a free-access reprint-link to the paper on our Publications page.

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