---
title: People
date: 2026-10-10
source_url: https://vrakalab.science/people/
---


![Vraka lab 2025](vraka_lab_half.jpg "Vraka lab 2025")

## Lab Members

### Maximilian Krisch, MSc
PhD student. Investigates the stress response and its effects on metabolism and health, using preclinical stress protocols combined with µPET/CT imaging, immunoassays, omics, and FACS, as part of the Translational Chronic Mental Stress group.

### Öykü Özer, MSc
PhD student. Studies the interplay between chronic stress, immune dynamics, and cachexia in lung cancer progression, combining clinical data with genetically engineered mouse models and total-body PET imaging to identify biomarkers and therapeutic targets.

### Clara Mertel, MSc
PhD student. Researches chronic mental stress as a risk factor for metabolic and inflammatory disease, developing a bidirectional mouse-human translational pipeline within the Translational Chronic Mental Stress (Vraka Group) line of research.

### Hanka Vrban, MSc
Biologist, Technical Assistant. Works on FAPI (Fibroblast Activation Protein Inhibitor) radiotracers, radiolabelling, and in vitro, in vivo, and ex vivo radiotracer evaluation.

- Immune regulation and T cell signaling in health and disease
- Translational immunology bridging basic mechanisms with therapeutic applications
- Crosstalk between immune signaling, cancer survival strategies, and chronic mental stress
- High-resolution imaging and systems-level approaches to study cell-cell interactions
- GPCR signaling and molecular pathways in CD8⁺ T cell activation, exhaustion, and memory

## Master Students

- Blendi Shala
- Poulami Goswami