PEOPLE
Team Epigenome-based Precision Medicine
Eleni M. Tomazou, PhD
Principal Investigator
eleni.tomazou@ccri.at
+43 1 40470 4045
Eleni Tomazou has been a PI at the St. Anna Children’s Cancer Research Institute (CCRI, Vienna, Austria) since January 2018. She has established a research program focusing on epigenome-based precision medicine at CCRI. She has a strong background in epigenomics research and two years’ experience in clinical diagnostics and management of a high-throughput diagnostics lab. Prior to joining CCRI, she did her PhD at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute (Cambridge, UK) and postdoctoral training at the Broad Institute and the Harvard Department for Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology (Cambridge, USA). She is a 2023 ERC consolidator grantee and a 2016 recipient of the Elise Richter Fellowship, a prestigious career development grant for female scientists offered by the Austrian Science Foundation (FWF). In her free time she enjoys exploring the hidden gems of Vienna.
Matteo Colombo, MSc
PhD Student
matteo.colombo@ccri.at
+43 1 40470 4014
Matteo obtained his bachelor's degree in Biotechnology at the University of Milano Bicocca and then moved to the University of Trieste, pursuing a master's degree in functional genomics. In Trieste, he had the opportunity to perform his master's thesis at the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, working on breast cancer and nuclear dynamics. Matteo joined the Tomazou lab as a PhD student in 2022. His project will be focused on ribosomes and their contribution to pediatric sarcomas, allowing him to fulfill his passion for cancer biology. In his free time, he enjoys playing sports and videogames, watching tv-series, and walking outdoors.
Peter Peneder, PhD
Bioinformatician
peter.peneder@ccri.at
+43 1 40470 4014
Peter did his bachelor's in microbiology and genetics before switching to bioinformatics for his master's. After an exchange semester at the University of Amsterdam, where he worked on finding novel B- and T-cell receptor alleles, he joined the lab in 2018 for his master thesis.
Peter is developing and applying bioinformatic methods and machine learning approaches to learn more about how pediatric cancers arise and how to use liquid biopsies to improve their identification, detection, and monitoring. He is especially interested in fragmentomics, machine learning, and computational methods for single-cell data analysis. To work on the latter, he joined the Marioni lab at the European Bioinformatics Institute and the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute as a visiting PhD student in 2022. In his free time, he enjoys listening to podcasts, bouldering, running, and discussions about philosophy.
Jason Sims, PhD
Staff Scientist
jason.sims@ccri.at
+43 1 40470 4014
Jason did his Bachelor and Master studies at the University of Trieste and the Open University of Cambridge studying chromosomal translocations and genome adaptations. For his PhD he moved to the University of Vienna to study the control of meiotic recombination at the repetitive ribosomal DNA (rDNA) region. He continued to study the rDNA focusing on the ribosomal RNA and tissue specific ribosomal variants during his PostDocs at the University of Vienna and the University of Hamburg. Jason joined the Tomazou Group in 2022 as a Staff Scientist working on ribosomes in Ewing sarcoma and supporting the lab with microscopy experiments. He is also involved in managing the lab and helping with experimental planning. Jason spends his free time pursuing various family activities with his family. He also enjoys cooking, skiing and playing basketball.
Manon Ressaire, MSc
PhD Student
manon.ressaire@ccri.at
+43 1 40470 4014
After completing her Bachelor's degree in health and environmental biology at Avignon University, Manon pursued a Master's in Cellular and Molecular Biology at Lyon 1 University. During her studies, she immersed herself in the intricate world of cell genetics and pathology. At the Stem Cell and Brain Research Institute, she conducted her Bachelor's and Master's thesis on the mechanisms of pluripotency in rabbit-induced pluripotent stem cells. In 2023, she joined Tomazou's group as a PhD student. Her PhD project aims to make a three-dimensional model of the fusion-driven sarcomas focusing on tumor microenvironment cells. Manon is someone who enjoys the finer things in life. She is into music and photography and loves visiting museums when traveling.
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Ornella Urzì, PhD
PostDoc
ornella.urzi@ccri.at
+43 1 40470 4014
Ornella did her Bachelor´s in Biology and Master´s in Medical Biotechnologies and Molecular Medicine at the University of Palermo. She investigated the role of microRNAs carried by multiple myeloma-derived extracellular vesicles in bone disease. During her PhD she studied colorectal cancer pre-metastatic niche in the liver, focusing her attention on the hepatocytes phenotypic changes induced by colorectal cancer-derived extracellular vesicles. She also has spent a period at the University of Göteborg where she learnt how to isolate extracellular vesicles from tissues. In 2023, she joined the Tomazou group as a PostDoc. Her aim is to establish a differentiation platform based on induced pluripotent stem cells to model different types of sarcomas and identify early alterations in gene regulation. Ornella spends her free time surrounded by nature or in science museums. She loves traveling and cooking, especially cakes.
Hana Bernhardová, MBiochem
PhD Student
hana.bernhardova@ccri.at
+43 1 40470 4014
​Hana did her undergraduate studies in Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry at the University of Oxford. During her studies, she developed a strong interest in cancer and developmental biology. For her master’s thesis, she investigated the role of galectin-3 in cortical development using human embryonic stem cells and mouse models. She also did an internship at the Institute of Molecular Pathology in Vienna focusing on chemotherapy resistance in osteosarcoma. She joined the Tomazou's group as a PhD student in September 2024. Her project focuses on creating an in vivo model of fusion-driven sarcomas. Outside the lab, Hana enjoys baking, travelling, spending time outdoors, and doing Pilates.
Tamina Stelzer, MSc
PhD Student
tamina.stelzer@ccri.at
+43 1 40470 4014
Tamina completed her Bachelor's degree in Medical and Pharmaceutical Biotechnology in Krems and earned her Master's in Molecular Biology at the University of Heidelberg. During her Master’s studies, she explored gene-regulatory networks in medulloblastoma Group 3 and 4 using single-cell multi-omics approaches. In 2025, she joined the Tomazou group as a PhD student. Her work focuses on developing technologies, including establishing a protocol for cfDNA concatenation for Nanopore sequencing, implementing molecular recording tools to decode the developmental origins of fusion oncogene-driven pediatric tumors, and applying lineage tracing in Ewing sarcoma models. Outside the lab, Tamina enjoys outdoor activities such as running, hiking, and skiing, and she loves to spend quieter moments reading.
Claudia Pilloni, BSc
Master Student
claudia.pilloni@ccri.at
+43 1 40470 4014
Claudia completed her Bachelor's degree in Bioanalyis at the Coburg University for Applied Sciences. For her Bachelor's thesis, she contributed to optimizing targeted next-generation sequencing (tNGS) for tuberculosis diagnostics using Oxford Nanopore Technologies (ONT). She later moved to Vienna to pursue her Master's studies in Molecular Precision Medicine at the Medical University Vienna. In March 2025, she joined our group to carry out her Master's thesis under the supervision of Ornella. The aim is to contribute to the identification of the cellular context able to tolerate EWSR1::FLI1 expression. Outside the lab, she enjoys reading, staying active, and crocheting.
Christoph Dotter, PhD
Staff Scientist, Bioinformatics
christoph.dotterr@ccri.at
+43 1 40470 4014
Christoph started out with his first Bachelor's in Biomedical Informatics at the UMIT (Hall in Tirol), before switching to the wet lab side of things with a Bachelor's in Chemistry (University of Innsbruck) and Master in Biochemistry (University of Vienna) focusing on genomic imprinting. He since then applied both his dry and wet lab experience to the study of the molecular basis of autism during his PhD in the group of Gaia Novarino at ISTA (Klosterneuburg, Austria). Most recently he decided to leave the lab work behind and joined the Tomazou group in December 2023 as a bioinformatician handling the analysis side of all ongoing projects in the group. In his free time, he enjoys buying and reading books, cycling, and traveling to new places.
Alumni
Former research assistant
Now Senior Scientist at ViennaLab
Adrian Stütz, PhD
Stefan Terlecki-Zaniewicz, PhD
Former PostDoc
Now MSL at GlaxoSmithKline
Abdelrahman Abdelgawad, MSc
Former master student
Now Manufacturing Scientist at Takeda
Lisa Daniel, MSc
Former PhD student
Now Sr. Associate at Biogen
Nikolaus Mandlburger, MSc
Former master student & bioinformatician
Now PhD Student at Stark lab, IMP
Markus Tötzl, MSc
Former PhD student
Now MSL at AbbVie
Daria Pajak, MSc
Former TA
Now PhD student at CeMM
Mirka Fourmouzi, MSc
Former TA