Sarah Melzer, Phd

Group leader

Sarah Melzer is an associate professor at Center for Brain Research, Medical University of Vienna since 2022. She did her PhD at Heidelberg University and completed her postdoc at Harvard Medical School. Her major research articles describe the detailed investigation of neuropeptidergic mechanisms and functions in the cortex and the discovery of GABAergic long-range communication in cortical networks of learning and memory.

Photo: MedUni Wien/feelimage

Greta crudeli, Msc

PhD student

Greta received her BSc/MSc degree at University of Ferrara (Italy) in Pharmaceutical Chemistry and Technology. For her thesis, she joined Gilberto Fisone’s lab at Karolinska Institute to work on sleep and odor impairments in Parkinson’s disease. She is currently investigating the influence of neuropeptides on neuronal networks in fear and anxiety.

salome Niethammer, msc

phd student

Salome received her MSc at NTNU Norway and her BSc at University of Vienna. During her MSc, she established tools to study hippocampal circuits in vitro. For her PhD, she specializes on in vitro and in vivo imaging of neuronal and astrocytic activity and neuropeptides including the development of novel neuropeptidergic sensors and tools to study astrocyte signaling.

Ashlyn creamer, msc

PhD student

Ashlyn received her BSc at Apalachian State University in North Caroline, USA and her MSc at Freiburg University, Germany. During her MSc, she became an expert in patch-clamp electrophysiology. In the Melzer lab, she studies the electrophysiological properties of cortical and thalamic neuropeptidergic circuits using electrophysiological, imaging, molecular and behavioral techniques.

Vasiliki Kouri, msc

Phd student

Vasiliki received her BSc at University of Patras, Greece, and her MSc at Freiburg University, Germany. During her MSc, she became an expert in whole-cell patch-clamp electrophysiology. For her PhD thesis, she uses electrophysiological, optical and optogenetic tools combined with staining techniques to study the effects of neuropeptides in cortex and hippocampus.

Laura Ghiani, Msc

rESEARCH aSSISTANT

Laura received her BSc in Toxicological sciences and her MSc in Neuropsychobiology at University of Cagliari. She joined the Melzer lab in 2025 to study cortical neuropeptides using molecular and behavioral techniques.

Lora khazhmuradova, BSC 

MASTER STUDENT

Lora is a Master student in Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine at the University of Applied Sciences Technikum Vienna. She joined the Melzer Lab to learn more about neuronal and glial properties using chemogenetic and CRISPR-based tools.

Julia Holik, Bsc

Master student

Julia is a MSc student at University Vienna. For her MSc thesis, she joined the Melzer Lab to investigate the function of neuropeptides using behavioral tests for fear and anxiety.

Nóra el-khayyat, Bsc

MASTER STUDENT

Nóra is a MSc student University Vienna. For her MSc thesis she joined the Melzer lab to study neuropeptide receptors and signaling pathways.

Solomia Pylypchuk, Bsc

MASTER STUDENT

Solomia is a MSc student in Molecular Biology at University Vienna. She received her BSc in Biological Chemistry at Johannes Kepler University/ University of South Bohemia. For her MSc thesis she joined the Melzer lab to develop CRISPR-based peptide editing strategies.