After transitioning from Würzburg, Germany to Innsbruck in late 2015 Frank Edenhofer has been the head of the Department of Genomics, Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine at the University of Innsbruck. Since the beginning of 2020 he is also the head of the Molecular Biology Institute.

+43-512507-51411

Caroline is the secterary to the institute of Molecular Biology and the department of Genomics, Stem Cell Research and Regenerative Medicine. She is the main contact person for all organizational issues and student affairs.



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Marta completed her Bachelor in Barcelona (Spain) and moved to Vienna for her Master studies. She has been working as a lab manager and research technician in the Edenhofer lab since it moved to Innsbruck in 2015. Although she is involved in several projects, her main interest is modelling neurodevelopmental disorders with stem cells.

+43-512507-51424

Theresa is our part time technician and Martas helping hand. She joined the lab in March 2021 and holds a Master’s degree in Molecular Cell and Developmental Biology from the University of Innsbruck. Theresa is currently employed at VASCage and the University of Innsbruck, where she contributes to several projects using stem cell and organoid models, with a strong focus on mitochondrial aging.

Coming from the other side of the Alps from the small town of Treviso, Elisa started her PhD in the lab in June 2021 after finishing her master's studies in Italy and a research experience in Germany. Her project focuses on the generation of an “old brain” model to better understand the mechanisms underlying ageing in physiological conditions and neurodegenerative disorders such as Parkinson’s disease.

Angeliki is originally from Greece and she studied in Germany and the U.S. before coming to Innsbruck to start her PhD in 2020. Her main research focus is deciphering the mechanisms behind the direct conversion of human adult cells into induced neural stem cells (iNSCs), for studying neural regeneration and neurodevelopmental disorders.

After her internship in our lab in 2025, Sofia decided to stay for her PhD in our lab. Her research focuses on establishing and characterizing human in vitro models of Batten disease, a rare and fatal pediatric neurodegenerative disorder caused by mutations in the CLN3 gene. Using patient-derived induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), she employs both two-dimensional (smNPCs and cortical neurons) and three-dimensional (brain organoids) systems to model different stages of human neurodevelopment.

Amelie is originally from Germany where she studied biology, before moving to Austria for her Master's studies. In 2024, she completed her Master's thesis in the Edenhofer lab and started her PhD in August 2024. During her Master's thesis, she investigated gene candidates involved in human brain ageing using cerebral organoids. For her PhD, she shifted her focus from brain ageing to neurodevelopment, using fetal neural stem cells to understand particularly early human neurodevelopment.

Martina studied Biotechnology at the Management Center Innsbruck for her Bachelor's and completed her Master's degree at the University of Innsbruck. After her Master's thesis she continued working in the group as a bioinformatician since 2023. She is involved in analysing bulk and single cell RNA sequencing datasets generated in the lab and recently started processing ONT seqencing data.