Team

Ying Cai

PhD Student

ying.cai@uzh.ch

Ying studies how DNA damage is regulated in the Zygote and how this affects CRISPR efficiency.

She majored in clinical medicine in Dalian Medical University. Her passion for reproduction pushed her further to study Obstetrics and gynecology in Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology. Her curiosity about the oocyte and embryo prompts her to pursue PhD study in our lab! 

According to Chinese zodiac, she was born in the year of Cow!

Antonia Furrer

Lab Technician

antonia.furrer@uzh.ch

Antonia completed her apprenticeship in 2009 at F. Hoffmann-La Roche with the main topics of Biochemistry, Cell Culture and Molecular Biology.

After gaining experience in different labs at university, industry, and PSI her interest in DNA damage repair brought her to the Cavazza lab.

She makes sure the lab stays in order and with a good vibe, supports team members in their research, and works on different side projects.

In her free time, you can find her at concerts & festivals, yoga sessions, and scuba diving.

Bernhard Magerl

PhD Student

bernhard.magerl@uzh.ch

Bernhard focuses on the origin and downstream consequences of aneuploidy in early embryogenesis. He uses the power of Light-sheet microscopy for live imaging of fluorescent embryos in combination with machine-learning algorithms to disentangle developmental trajectories.

Bernhard studied Molecular Biotechnology at the Technical University of Munich. In his Master thesis, he worked on a new suite of genetic markers for correlative light and electron microscopy, also applicable to volume EM.https://rdcu.be/dmwbx

In his free time, Bernhard enjoys mountain biking on the trails around Zurich or skiing.

Twitter   LinkedIn

Mikhael Poirier

Postdoc

mikhael.poirier@uzh.ch

Mikhael is investigating the efficacy and safety of CRISPR-based genome editing and its potential use in reproductive medicine.

He was first interested in assisted reproductive technologies during his master’s degree at the University of Montreal where he studied the impact of cloning and induced pluripotency on imprinted genes.

He continued his PhD studies at the University of Bonn, investigating the impact of early lactation in the cow on oocyte and embryo epigenome, as well as CRISPR-Cas9 editing at the zygote stage.

In his free time, Mikhael enjoys playing some flute or the ukulele and grilling at the park.

Markus Schliffka

Postdoc

markus.schliffka@uzh.ch

Markus studies steroid hormones in the early mammalian embryo. In collaboration with the group of Katharina Gapp at ETH Zürich, he investigates the effects of the steroid hormones estrogen and progesterone and the role of their respective receptors in the preimplantation development of the cow and mouse embryo.

Markus completed his undergraduate studies in biochemistry at the Freie Universität Berlin. During his PhD at the Institut Curie in Paris, he focussed on the role of actomyosin contractility during early mouse development; investigating the roles of contractility in preimplantation morphogenesis and blastocoel formation.

 Twitter: x.com/MSchliffka

Anouk Dupé

Master’s Student

anouknoemi.dupe@uzh.ch

Anouk is pursuing her M.Sc. in Genetics and Development and joined the lab for her master’s thesis.

She is working with Bernhard to investigate the causes of early embryonic failure. Using live imaging, immunofluorescent staining, and machine learning–based advanced image analysis, she focuses on understanding the early cleavage stages following fertilization.

Anouk completed her undergraduate studies in Molecular Biotechnology at Heidelberg University, where she worked in the field of genome engineering with a focus on prime editing.

In her free time, she enjoys bouldering and skiing and is currently training to become a certified graphic designer.

Meret Arter

Postdoc

meret.arter@uzh.ch

Meret aims to use evolutionary biology to find out how human genetic variants affect female fertility and how to best use the cow model to efficiently and reliably experimentally study these variants.

She first started working on reproduction-related mechanisms in her PhD with Dr. Joao Matos at the Institute of Biochemistry at ETH Zurich. There she studied how yeast cells regulate different DNA repair pathways during the cell cycle to ensure that gametes inherit an intact and complete, haploid genome. She then continued her work on meiosis as a Postdoc with Dr. Scott Keeney at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) in New York, where she studied the molecular evolution of proteins required for homologous recombination during meiosis.

Outside of the lab she now is back to exploring everything that Zurich and Switzerland have to offer, on her bike, by hiking or skiing in Winter.

Martino Ugolini

Postdoc

martino.ugolini@uzh.ch

Martino is studying how mammalian embryos manage to make sure that their first cell division is symmetric, and what are the causes and consequences when they happen to make a first asymmetric division.

 Before switching to studying bovine embryos, he has studied the role of piRNAs in c. elegans in the Cecere lab (Paris), the role of oxidative stress on aging in the short-lived killifish, the transcripts that are present in murine synapses, and how their composition changes over time (Cellerino lab, Pisa and Jena), the biophysical properties of the spindle’s microtubules (Brugués lab, Dresden) and, in his PhD, the role of transcription bodies, which are nuclear structures in which transcriptional activity is concentrated, during early zebrafish development (Vastenhouw Lab, Lausanne).

 When he is not in the lab you can find him playing his violin, at the cinema watching old movies or on the dance floor.

Camilla Stamme

PhD Student

camilla.stamme@uzh.ch

Camilla investigates how the parental genomes synchronise after fertilisation to ensure a successful first mitotic division.

She pursued a Bachelor’s degree in Biological Sciences, followed by a Master’s degree in Genetics and Molecular Biology at the University of Rome La Sapienza.

For her Master’s thesis, she carried out a research project at the Boskovic Lab (EMBL Rome) investigating RNA-binding proteins (hnRNPs) in mouse embryonic stem cells.

Her main scientific interests include reproductive health and embryonic development. Driven by a strong curiosity, she decided to pursue a PhD in the Cavazza Lab.

In her free time she enjoys attending dance classes, walking around the city and - when feeling inspired - painting (… though more often than not, it takes many tries to produce something that actually resembles a painting!).

Tommaso Cavazza

Group Leader

tommaso.cavazza@uzh.ch

Tommaso coordinates the lab and tries his best to keep everybody happy.

For more info on Tommaso's professional CV, click here.

Tommaso loves cycling, but lately he became very slow as he must carry his two kids in the bike trailer!

Former members

Dario Filippone (2023-24): Dario left the team to start a Bachelor in Applied Digital Life Science.