We are pleased to announce that the next Research in Progress meeting, taking place on Monday, June 1, 2026, at 4:00 pm in the Main Lecture Hall (Hörsaal), University Hospital Heidelberg, INF 410.
The session will feature presentations by two postdoctoral researchers of CRC1709 who will share current projects and recent developments from their work.
Speakers
Eleni Besiridou—Raffel Group (DKFZ)
Talk Title:
Endosomal pH: A key driver in Leukemic Stem Cell dynamics
Bio:
Eleni Besiridou studied Molecular Biology and Genetics at Democritus University of Thrace in Greece, followed by a Master’s degree in Cancer Sciences at the University of Glasgow, Scotland. She later worked as a research associate at the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, where she focused on myeloproliferative neoplasms.
In July 2020, she joined the Simon Raffel Lab as a PhD student at the University Hospital Heidelberg, investigating metabolic vulnerabilities in leukemic stem cells. Since November 2025, she has continued her work in the Simon Raffel Lab as a postdoctoral scientist.
David Schmidl—Frye Group (DKFZ)
Talk Title:
The role of the m1A RNA modification in AML
Bio:
David studied Chemistry and Biochemistry at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität in Munich (Germany). He received his Master’s degree from LMU upon investigating synthetic TET enzyme models as tools to target epigenetic DNA base modifications. He then joined the group of Sir Shankar Balasubramanian at the University of Cambridge (UK) for his PhD studies where he developed novel approaches to sequence cytosine modifications as well as de novo nucleic acid synthesis, combining nucleic acid chemistry, enzymology and epigenetic sequencing.
In 2025, he joined Michaela Frye’s group at DKFZ on a DKFZ Postdoctoral Fellowship to work in the field of cancer epitranscriptomics. His current research is concerned with the mechanisms by which modified RNA bases and their writer and reader proteins influence progression and therapy resistance in acute myeloid leukaemia.
Chair:
Mahmud Shehab (Reiter Group, UMM)
Research in Progress meetings provide an internal platform for scientific exchange within CRC1709 and highlight ongoing work across participating groups.
All CRC1709 members, colleagues, and interested researchers are warmly invited to attend.
If you are unable to join in person, participation online is also possible.
