Group Members

Cedric was born in Herdecke (next to Dortmund, NRW) and moved into the Munich area (Ebersberg) when he was six years old. He received his B.Sc. in chemistry from the Ludwig-Maximilians University (LMU) working in the group of PD Dr. Armin Ofial on the kinetic investigation of thiophenolate nucleophilicities and their use as reference nucleophiles to study the ring opening of cyclopropanes that are substituted with electron withdrawing groups. During his Master's studies, he gained experience in the field of energetic materials while working with Prof. Klapötke and in prebiotic organic chemistry while working with Prof. Trapp. He joined the Konrad group for his Master's thesis and continued on as a PhD student, excited to improve his organic synthesis skills and to gain insights into the development of novel anticancer drugs. In his free time, he enjoys running (6 – 21 km), hiking and cooking and he is renowned as a passionate handball referee.

Manjima grew up in the state of Kerala, India. She completed her Bachelor’s and Master’s degree (BS MS dual degree program) at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Pune. She performed her Master’s thesis at the Department of Chemistry at IISER in the group of Prof. Harinath Chakrapani, where she developed an enzyme triggered persulfide donor for the persulfidation of cysteine residues. Her research interests lie at the interface of medicinal chemistry and chemical biology, which led her to join the Konrad group to work on developing red-shifted photoswitchable lipids and lysine-reactive covalent inhibitors. Besides her research interests, she loves to explore new places and plays badminton.

Benedikt was born in Mühldorf am Inn and went to school not far away in Burghausen, where he developed a passion for Chemistry quite early. In his last years at high school he participated twice at the International Chemistry Olympics. After graduating, he started studying philosophy at the HfPh in 2014 (Munich) and expanded his studies by additionally working towards a Bachelor´s degree in chemistry at the LMU one year later. During his Bachelor studies, he pursued internships in the groups of Prof. Dr. Paul Knochel and Prof. Dr. Vito Capriati in Bari, working on cobalt catalyzed Negishi coupling reactions and organolithium chemistry on water and green solvents. In 2018 he graduated in philosophy with a thesis on the theory of science in Michel Foucaults “The Order of Things: An Archaeology of the Human Sciences” and in 2020 in chemistry with a thesis on the stereoselective access to azetidine derivatives in the group of Dr. Dorian Didier. He continued his studies in chemistry in the Master´s program at the LMU, working in the groups of Prof. Dr. Thomas Carell on the synthesis of hypermodified nucleic acids and Dr. Dorian Didier on utilizing strain release heteroatom functionalization and electroorganic synthesis.

After spending too much time on establishing substrates scopes without further using his precious compounds, he decided to do dedicate his time making small molecules to use in biological studies and joined the Konrad group for his master thesis. Before starting his PhD in May 2023, he decided to broaden his skillset by joining the Baran group to work on electrochemical couplings and the synthesis of Cyclopamine. In his free time, he enjoys reading, playing piano, hiking in the mountains and playing boardgames and DnD.

Hala was born and raised in Egypt. She earned her Bachelor's degree in Pharmacy from the German University in Cairo (GUC) in 2019. She moved to Munich for her Master's degree in Nutrition and Biomedicine at the TUM. During her Bachelor's studies, Hala pursued her first internship in Pharmaceutical Chemistry optimizing the synthesis of antiviral drugs against Hepatitis C. She volunteered as a research assistant for a year at the departments of Immunology and Pharmacology, where she worked on charactrizing the immunological profile of Egyptian leukemia cancer patients and the psychological side effects of Vincristine-treated mouse models respectively. After her graduation, Hala joined the Faculty of Medicine at New Giza University (NGU) in Cairo as a research assistant where she worked on micro-RNA profiling in liver cancer collaborating with the DKFZ in Heidelberg. During her Master's studies in Germany, Hala completed her thesis at the IPEK, LMU at the Barteltl lab where she worked on charactrizing the role of stress granules in adipocyte metabolism. Thereafter, she joined Santovito group at the IPEK working on charactrizing the role of micro-RNAs in atheroschlerosis. In her free time, Hala enjoys strength training, hiking, road tripping and dinning.

Max was born in Tübingen, and grew up in Lörrach in southwestern Germany. After completing his high school diploma, he trained as a Laboratory Technician at Novartis in Basel, Switzerland, where he gained his first hands-on experience in biotechnological work. He then pursued a Bachelor of Science in Molecular Biotechnology at the University of Applied Sciences Campus Vienna. He completed his bachelor's thesis at the Research Institute of Molecular Pathology in Vienna, in the lab of Dr. Rushad Pavri, focusing on the role of Activation-Induced Cytidine Deaminase (AID) in antibody diversification in B cells. He subsequently continued his studies, pursuing his Master of Science in Molecular Biology at the University of Vienna, specializing in Cancer Biology and Immunology. His Master's thesis, carried out in the group of Prof. Dr. Emilio Casanova at the Medical University of Vienna, investigated the immunomodulatory role of the anti-inflammatory protein A20 in EGFR-mutant lung adenocarcinoma. Max joined the Konrad group in September 2025 as a graduate student, where his research focuses on the development of small molecules targeting advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and elucidating their molecular mechanisms of action within cells. In his free time, Max enjoys being active with running and cycling, playing guitar and experimenting in the kitchen.

Moritz grew up in Wuppertal, Germany, where he also completed both his Bachelor's and Master's studies at the University of Wuppertal in the group of Prof. Kirsch. For his Bachelor's thesis, he investigated gold-catalyzed cycloisomerizations of 1,5-enynes. During his Master's studies, he first contributed to the successful total synthesis of Aureosurfactin, before turning his attention to his own total synthesis project toward Monapinone A & B. He further broadened his experience through an internship at Bayer AG, where he worked on small molecule drug discovery in the field of oncology. Driven by his interest in medicinal chemistry, he joined the Konrad group to pursue his PhD, focusing on the design and synthesis of probes and drug candidates for therapy-resistant non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Outside the lab, Moritz enjoys bouldering, calisthenics, and hiking.

Andreas was born in Haslach/Mühl (Upper Austria) and studied some semesters chemistry at the Universität of Vienna as well as graduating at the University of Music and Performing Arts in pipe organ playing in 2001. In 2003/2004 he studied pharmacy at the University of Vienna. After having achieved the biomedical scientist at the General Hospital of Vienna he worked there in research labs of Pain Therapy and Lung Cancer and Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma Research. In 2020, Andreas resumed studying pharmacy at the University of Vienna and is now perfoming his Master's thesis at the Konrad group focused on synthesizing and investigating covalent chemical probes of promising protein targets in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer. In his leisure time he likes reading and playing piano and chess.