Team
Current
Flurin Cathomas, PD Dr. med.
Group Leader
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Flurin Cathomas is a senior psychiatrist (Leitender Arzt) and Deputy Director of the Center for Acute Psychiatric Disorders and the Center for Psychiatric Research at the University Hospital of Psychiatry, University of Zurich (PUK).
After studying medicine at the University of Basel and completing a research-track residency at the PUK, he spent several years conducting research at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York, first as a postdoctoral fellow and then as a faculty instructor, before returning to the PUK, where he now leads the Laboratory for Translational Stress Research. His main research interest is to understand the neuroimmune mechanisms of psychiatric disorders.
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flurin.cathomas@pukzh.ch​​
Sarah Fehr, Dr. med.
Postdoctoral Researcher
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Sarah Fehr is a research-track resident at the University Hospital of Psychiatry Zürich. She is currently leading a randomized controlled trial investigating the use of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) for the treatment of post-COVID-associated affective symptoms and associated immune system changes.
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sarah.fehr(at)bli.uzh.ch​
Florian Hotzy, PD Dr. med.
Postdoctoral Research Associate
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In addition to his clinical work as an attending physician, Florian Hotzy conducts research in the field of nutritional psychiatry. He is currently leading the Zürich Nutrition Project, which aims to gain a better understanding of the nutritional behavior of psychiatric patients and to evaluate interventions to improve nutritional behavior. His research focuses on behavioral aspects and the role of the gut-brain axis, including underlying inflammatory processes.
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florian.hotzy(at)pukzh.ch​
Jasmin Ewert
PhD Student
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After completing her B.Sc. in Biology at the University of Bonn and her M.Sc. in Biology at the University of Düsseldorf, Jasmin Ewert began her PhD in Neuroscience at the University of Zurich. In her main project she examines the effects of chronic cocaine use on the complex interactions between the immune system, blood-brain barrier and cognitive function.
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​jasmin.ewert(at)bli.uzh.ch​​
Lidya Aslan
Research Assistant
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Lidya Aslan completed her Bachelor’s degree in Biology at the University of Geneva and her Master’s degree in Neuroscience at the University of Zürich. She conducted her Master’s thesis in the lab, investigating neuroimmune mechanisms in cocaine use disorder. She now supports ongoing project examining how chronic cocaine use influences the interactions between the immune system, the blood–brain barrier, and cognitive function.
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nesteren.aslan(at)uzh.ch
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Sebastian Hachenberg
PhD Student ​
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Sebastian earned both his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Biology from the University of Dusseldorf, specializing in Biomedical and Cell Biology during his Master’s studies. Before joining the lab, he worked in the group of Adriano Aguzzi at the Institute of Neuropathology in Zurich, focusing on genome-wide CRISPR screens and prion proteins. In his research in the lab, he investigates the neuroimmune mechanisms of resilience.
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sebastian.hachenberg(at)bli.uzh.ch​​​
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Antonia Lüönd, Dr. med.
Postdoctoral researcher
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Antonia is a research-track resident at the Psychiatric University Hospital Zurich. After completing her medical degree at the University of Basel, she has been conducting research at the University of Zurich exploring the socio-emotional consequences of childhood maltreatment, with a particular emphasis on interpersonal distance regulation in depression. Her current research focuses on inflammatory processes as a potential underlying mechanism in the development of affective disorders.
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antonia.lueoend(at)bli.uzh.ch​​​​​​​
Yannick Staerk
Master student
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Yannick is a master's student in psychology at the University of Zurich, focusing on clinical psychology. In his master's thesis, he is exploring how chronic stress and early stressful experiences can influence the blood-brain barrier and potentially contribute to the development of mental disorders. He is supporting ongoing research projects in the areas of stress, resilience and the neurobiological mechanisms of mental disorders.
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yannick.staerk(at)uzh.ch​​​​​​​
Dionysios Argyropoulos
Postdoctoral researcher
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Dionysios Argyropoulos is a psychiatry resident. He holds an MSc in Biomedical Research Methodology, Biostatistics and Clinical Bioinformatics from the University of Thessaly, Greece and an MSc in International Medicine - Health Crisis Management from the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece.
He is interested in integrating inflammatory and metabolic markers with clinical and behavioural data to identify biologically meaningful phenotypes of mental illness and advance precision psychiatry approaches.
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Alumni
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Benedikt Dechow (Master student)
Gaia Ferrante ​(Master student)
Romane Perler (Summer intern)
Collaborators
Prof. Boris Quednow (University of Zurich)​
Dr. Stephan Nebe (University of Zurich)
Prof. Scott Russo (Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai New York)
Prof. Raffael Kalisch (University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz)
Prof. Sebastian Olbrich (University of Zurich)​
Funding
Swiss National Science Foundation
Stiftung zur Förderung von Psychiatrie und Psychotherapie
Helmut Horten Foundation
Olga Mayenfisch Foundation
Advanced Clinician Scientist Program UMZH