Marta Rizzi (MD, PhD)
Professor for Clinical and Experimental Immunology
Medical University of Vienna, Center for Pathophysiology, Infectiology and Immunology, Institute of Immunology
Working group for “B cells in health and disease”
The working group for B cells in health and disease (WG-BCE) connects researchers and groups in Austria working on B lymphocytes and humoral immunity both from the basic and translational point of view. The working group aims at sharing knowledge and expertise related to B cells, and build a network that can foster collaboration and synergistic work. The group originated from the Vienna B cell club initiated by Prof Marta Rizzi in January 2023.
To foster and promote exchange and synergy, all groups interested in B cells meet virtually once a month on Thursday in the B cell club, where projects and ideas around B cells and antibodies are shared! If you would like to participate, please contact Marta Rizzi: E-Mail
Speakers of the working group:
Ola Grimsholm (co-speaker)
Medical University of Vienna, Center for Pathophysiology, Infectiology and Immunology, Institute of Pathophysiology and Allergy Research
Selina Kepler (co-speaker)
Tenure Track Research Professor
Division of Rheumatology and Immunology, Department of Internal Medicine, LKH Univ. Klinikum Graz / Medical University of Graz
Marta Rizzi
After studying Medicine at the University of Genoa/Italy, Marta Rizzi completed her PhD in Clinical and Experimental Immunology in Genoa/Italy and San Diego/California in 2004. In 2007, she completed her residency training in Allergology and Clinical Immunology. Since 2006, she has been conducting research at the University Medical Center Freiburg – initially as a postdoctoral fellow, and later as head of a research group since 2014. In 2014, she was awarded the prestigious Margarete von Wrangell fellowship. She has been awarded the prestigious Heisenberg Professorship of the German Research foundation (DFG) and since 2023 she is also Professor for Experimental and Translational Rheumatology (Heisenberg) at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Freiburg. Marta Rizzi research focus is human B-lymphocytes development, maturation and activation in physiological and pathological conditions. Since 2022 she is Professor of Clinical and Experimental Immunology at the Medical University of Vienna.
Ola Grimsholm
Ola Grimsholm studied molecular biology at Umeå University in northern Sweden and thereafter graduated from the same university in 2008 with a PhD Thesis on neuroimmunological regulation of rheumatoid arthritis. He undertook two postdoctoral periods from 2009-2017 in the labs of Profs. Lill Mårtensson and Rita Carsetti where his interests for B cells was born. In 2021 he was recruited by Prof. Barbara Bohle to work on B cells in allergy at Institute of Pathophysiology and Allergy Research, Medical University of Vienna. His research group (www.grimsholmlab.com) is focused on B-cell responses in allergy and primary immunodeficiency. The ongoing research covers the areas of allergic sensitization and allergen-specific B-cell responses during allergen immunotherapy. Main methods used at the moment are BCR sequencing, 3D organoids and antigen-antibody modelling.
Selina Keppler
Sabine Keppler studied Biology with a focus on Molecular Immunology, Virology and Microbiology at the University of Freiburg and the ENS Lyon; and obtained my diploma degree in 2007. She was then awarded a postgraduate fellowship from the Boehringer Ingelheim Fonds (BIF) to conduct doctoral studies in Immunology, investigating the role of cytokines in T cell activation and memory formation during infection. After receiving the Dr. rer. nat in 2011, she joined the group of Facundo D. Batista at Cancer Research UK (now the Francis Crick Institute) in London, where she was awarded a fellowship of the German Research Foundation (DFG) to study the role of actin regulators in mediating B cell receptor signaling. In 2017, she started her own research group at the TranslaTUM in Munich. In 2023, she joined the Medical University of Graz as a group leader (Tenure Track Research Professor).
