At the heart of our collaborative efforts is a commitment to respectful treatment, open discussions, and a lab environment that not only fosters personal and professional development but also fuels our scientific drive. We recognize the crucial balance between work and personal life, understanding that our families and hobbies contribute to our well-being and overall performance in advancing groundbreaking research. Together, anchored in these principles, we strive to make significant contributions to the scientific community, delving into fundamental principles that govern the behavior of muscle stem cells, fostering proper development and health of organisms.
Josephine Bageritz
Group leader
Josy studied biology at the J. Gutenberg - University Mainz where she developed an early interest in cell and tissue heterogeneity. During her PhD, she worked with in vitro tumor stem cell models, progressing to Drosophila as a model system during her postdoctoral research on neural and intestinal stem cells and undifferentiated wing epithelium, in Cambridge and Heidelberg. At the beginning of 2021, she started her own group at the Centre for Organismal Studies, where she continues to work with Drosophila and together with her team explores the heterogenous nature of muscle stem cell niches.
View CV
- +49 6221 545612
- josephine.bageritz@cos.uni-heidelberg.de
Maria Jelena Musillo
Postdoc
Maria completed her B.Sc. and M.Sc. at TU Darmstadt before joining the lab in August 2021 as a PhD student. She is currently finalizing projects as a bridging postdoctoral researcher. Her research focuses on Wnt pathway specificity in the muscle stem cell niche, for which she develops and applies image analysis methods for spatial imaging.
- maria.musillo@cos.uni-heidelberg.de
Natalja Engel
Technical Assistant
Natalja has been at COS since 2013 and joined our team in March 2021. She supports general lab organization and contributes to a range of projects across the lab. Currently, she works as a part-time technician, in particular focusing on sample preparation and the optimization of experimental protocols.
- +49 6221 54 6406
- natalia.engel@cos.uni-heidelberg.de
Jennifer Groß
Lab Manager / Technician
Jennifer, initially an M.Sc. student at the University of Heidelberg, joined the lab for an internship and continued to contribute as a student assistant before completing her master’s thesis in our lab. Since February 2026, she has taken on a new role as lab manager, where she handles general lab organization and actively supports ongoing experiments.
- +49 6221 54 6406
- jennifer.gross@cos.uni-heidelberg.de
Bilyana Popova
Master Student
Bilyana originally joined the lab in March 2024 for an internship and completed her B.Sc. thesis in our lab. After a period exploring other model organisms and research groups, she has now started her master’s thesis in our group, focusing on the role of physiological cell death during development in the muscle precursor niche.
- bilyana.popova@stud.uni-heidelberg.de
Milena Lucia Hild
Bachelor Student
Milena is a Bachelor’s student in Biosciences at the University of Heidelberg. She joined our lab in early 2025 as a Hiwi, shared between our group and the group of Christel Herold-Mende, supporting ongoing projects in image processing and analysis. She will now begin her BSc thesis, focusing on Wnt signaling in rhabdomyosarcoma.
- milena.hild@stud.uni-heidelberg.de
Edrian Tropmann
Apprentice
Edrian joined us in February 2026 as an apprentice training as a biology laboratory technician. He is currently in his second year of training and is eager to learn our methods and support our research projects.
- +49 6221 54 6406
- edrian.tropmann@cos.uni-heidelberg.de
Former Team Members
Verena Holzwarth, Technical Assistant from November 2021 to December 2025 – Vocational Trainer at SRH Berufsbildungswerk
Ilgin Selvi, Rotation and Hiwi student from February to December 2025 – Master student at Heidelberg University
Magdalena Schlotter, Technical Assistant (retired) from July 2023 to December 2024 – Retired
Laura Schütze, Hiwi, Master student and Researcher from October 2023 to January 2025 – Staff scientist at the Single-cell Open Lab (DKFZ)
Mugdhaa Pradhan, Visiting Master student from June 2024 to December 2024 – Master student at the University of Mumbai
Gideon Bergheim, Postdoc from January 2024 to December 2024 – Pharmaceutical Sales Representative at Careforce for Boehringer Ingelheim
Anna Geißdorf, Hiwi student from December 2023 to December 2024 – Erasmus student at Manchester University
Lara Roth, Bachelor and Hiwi student from April 2023 to March 2024 – currently applying for Master programmes
Iva Verbanac, Hiwi student from June 2023 to December 2023 – Master student at Heidelberg University
Nika Goršek, Master student and Hiwi from 2022 to spring 2023 – PhD student at EPFL (Prof. D’Angelo)
Livia Chavent, Erasmus student in 2022 – Master student University of Paris, France