Group Leader
Gerd Meyer zu Hörste
Prof. Gerd Meyer zu Hörste, MD, is a neurologist and Heisenberg Professor at the University of Münster. His research investigates how immune responses are organized within and around the nervous system, with a particular focus on nervous-system border compartments and the interactions between immune and tissue-resident cells. His group combines human translational neuroimmunology with advanced single-cell, spatial and multi-omic approaches to study neuroinflammatory and autoimmune disease.
gerd.mzh(at)uni-muenster(dot)dePost-Docs
Deepak Balamurali
Deepak Balamurali, PhD, completed a Master's degree in Biotechnology at SRM University
in India and earned his doctorate in Cardiovascular Genomics at Maastricht University in the Netherlands as part of the EU-MSCA TRAIN-HEART consortium. His research interests include next-generation sequencing and single-cell biology, particularly the development and standardization of new methods. Since January 2025, he has been working in Prof. Meyer zu Hörste's research group at the Department of Neurology at the University Hospital.
Deepak.Balamurali(at)ukmuenster(dot)deMichael Heming
Michael Heming, MD, is a board-certified neurologist in the Department of Neurology at University Hospital Münster. As a clinician-scientist he studies neuroimmunological diseases, with a focus on single-cell and spatial transcriptomics and data analysis.
michaeloleg.heming(at)ukmuenster(dot)deThiemo Möllenkamp
Thiemo Möllenkamp, MD is a resident at the Department of Neurology. As a clinician-scientist, he is particularly interested in translational neuroimmunology and remyelination in the central and peripheral nervous system, with a focus on experimental models of neuropathy and biomarker research.
ThiemoMalte.Moellenkamp(at)ukmuenster(dot)deLouisa Müller-Miny
Louisa Müller-Miny, MD, is a board-certified neurologist and research fellow at the Department of Neurology, University Hospital Münster. Her research lies at the interface of neuroimmunology and neuro-oncology, with a particular interest in neurological autoimmunity triggered by systemic cancer immunotherapies. She uses patient-derived samples and high-dimensional immune profiling to understand how peripheral immune alterations give rise to immune responses within the central and peripheral nervous systems.
louisa.mueller-miny(at)ukmuenster(dot)deXuesong Wang
Xuesong Wang, PhD, holds a Master's degree in Bioinformatics from Freie Universität Berlin and has experience in full-stack development and neural networks from an automotive R&D company in Berlin. During his PhD, he used single-cell sequencing to study the cell cycle of Arabidopsis thaliana and developed the PMET software for gene regulation research. His interdisciplinary background combines bioinformatics, software development, and single-cell genomics.
Xuesong.Wang(at)ukmuenster(dot)deVisiting Scientist
Raphaël Bernard-Valnet
Raphaël Bernard-Valnet, MD, PhD, is a physician-scientist with a strong interest in neuroimmunology, particularly in understanding how inflammation contributes to the pathogenesis of neurological disorders. He currently serves as a Neuroimmunology Fellow at Lausanne University Hospital in Switzerland and joined the MzH group as a visiting scientist to apply single-cell transcriptomic approaches to neurological disease.
Raphael.Bernard-Valnet(at)chuv(dot)chPhD students
Anna-Lena Börsch
Anna-Lena Börsch received her M.Sc. in Molecular Biomedicine from the University of Münster in 2022. She initially joined the lab as a student assistant and completed her bachelor's thesis in 2019 on immune-cell infiltration in EAE. She returned to the MzH group for her PhD in 2022 and is particularly interested in immune-cell trafficking in the meninges during health and disease. In addition, she creates illustrations for the group's publications.
anna-lena.boersch(at)ukmuenster(dot)deJulia Lompa
Julia Lompa completed her M.Sc. in Biology with a focus on neuroscience in Braunschweig in 2024. Since 2026, she has been a member of Prof. Meyer zu Hörste's lab, where she combines her interests in translational research, neurology, and immunology.
Julia.Lompa(at)ukmuenster(dot)deLouis Bourhoven
Louis Bourhoven completed a Master's degree in Molecular Medicine at Université Laval in Quebec in 2025, specializing in neuroimmunology. His research interests focus on characterizing immune cells involved in neurodegeneration and exploring their therapeutic potential. In 2026, he joined Prof. Gerd Meyer zu Hörste's research team to develop and apply new techniques for characterizing immunity in the central nervous system.
louis.bourhoven(at)ukmuenster(dot)de
Sheng-Hsiang Shen
Sheng-Hsiang Shen received his M.Sc. in Medical Life Sciences from Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel in 2018. His research interests lie in neuroimmunology, with a focus on meningeal immunity. He joined the MzH lab in 2021 and studies brain border tissues beyond the meninges.
sheng-hsiang.shen(at)ukmuenster(dot)deTechnical Assistants
Julia Tietz
Julia Tietz completed her training as a biological-technical assistant at the Berufskolleg Olsberg. From 2006-2016 she worked for WWU at the Institute of Molecular Microbiology and Biotechnology. Then from 2016-2021 in an independent microbiology laboratory. She joined the Meyer zu Hörste research group in 2021. She supports the research group in sample processing and in method establishment for single cell RNA sequencing and other sequencing-related technologies.
julia.tietz(at)ukmuenster(dot)deStudent Assistants
Merle Greiwe
Fenja Hornung
Jana Kruimink
Sophie Linnenbaum
Alumni
Previous Lab Members2016 – 2018 Tobias Lautwein, PhD
2017 – 2021 Maike Hartlehnert, PhD
2017 – 2024 David Schafflick, PhD
2017 – 2024 Jolien Wolbert, PhD
2020 – 2023 Svea Haessner, MD
2021 – 2024 Martin Häring, PhD
2021 – 2024 I-Na Lu, PhD
2022 – 2024 Pauline Laufer, MSc
2022 - 2026 Timm Kühnel, M. Sc.