Milka Doktorova, PhD (Principal Investigator)

Assistant Professor, Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Stockholm University

DDLS Fellow, Science for Life Laboratory (SciLifeLab)

Email: milka.doktorova@dbb.su.se

Milka entered the field of membrane biophysics with a computational background and interest in solving biological problems. She completed her PhD training in Cornell University and Weill Cornell Medical College in the labs of Harel Weinstein and Gerald Feigenson. There, she used molecular dynamics simulations and wet lab experiments to study various aspects of membrane structure and dynamics with model systems. In her postdoc in the Levental Lab at University of Virginia she began applying these concepts to cultured cells to examine the functional organization of the lipids in cell plasma membranes. She has been at Stockholm University as part of the Data-Driven Life Science (DDLS) program since September 2024.

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Fred Heberle, PhD

Senior Researcher

Email: frederick.heberle@scilifelab.se ; fheberle@utk.edu

Fred received his PhD from Cornell University, where he studied phase separation in model membranes with Gerald Feigenson. That was followed by a postdoc with John Katsaras in the Neutron Sciences Division at Oak Ridge National Lab. At ORNL, Fred used innovative neutron contrast variation methods to investigate the three-dimensional organization of lipids in complex biomimetic membranes. As an Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Fred has led efforts to develop cryo-EM as a tool for investigating nanoscale bilayer structure, and to uncover the molecular determinants of interleaflet coupling in asymmetric bilayers.

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Karan Sharma, PhD

Postdoctoral Researcher

Email: karan.sharma@scilifelab.se

Karan received his masters degree in Chemistry in 2019 from Panjab University, Chandigarh, India. In his masters project, his research was focused on investigation of unconventional non-covalent interactions in modified DNA base pairs. He received his Ph.D.  in Chemistry in 2024 from University of Tennessee, Knoxville, USA. During his Ph.D. research in the Heberle lab, he focused on investigating liquid-liquid phase separation in lipid bilayers. His work centered on using machine learning methods for characterizing the nanodomain structures in phase-separated lipid systems imaged using cryo-EM.

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Shambhavi Pandey, PhD

Postdoctoral Researcher (RED SciLifeLab Fellow)

Email: shambhavi.pandey@scilifelab.se

Shambhavi obtained her B.Tech in Biotechnology from IIT Guwahati, India, before pursuing her PhD in Biophysics at the National University of Singapore under the supervision of Prof. Thorsten Wohland. During her doctoral research, she investigated the dynamics and spatial organization of membrane receptors in living cells, focusing on their dependence on the actin cytoskeleton. Her work combined fluorescence microscopy approaches, including Imaging Fluorescence Correlation Spectroscopy (Imaging FCS), with computational super-resolution microscopy to study membrane organization and molecular dynamics in live cells. After completing her Ph.D. in 2026, Shambhavi joined the Doktorova Lab as a SciLifeLab RED Postdoctoral Fellow. Her postdoctoral research focuses on investigating the mechanistic and functional roles of localized lipid scrambling in immune cell signaling. By combining cellular and biophysical approaches, her work aims to understand how dynamic changes in membrane lipid organization regulate immune cell function.

Julian Wagner

PhD student

Email: julian.wagner@scilifelab.se 

Julian is originally from Germany and completed a Franco-German undergraduate program in molecular and cell biology at Saarbrücken and Strasbourg Universities. He then moved to Montreal, Canada, to pursue his master’s degree in biochemistry at McGill University. There, he conducted research in Kalle Gehring’s lab at the Centre for Structural Biology (CRBS), where he studied the E3 ubiquitin ligase parkin, which is mutated in familial forms of Parkinson's disease. As a PhD student in the Doktorova lab, he is excited to explore the fascinating world of membrane biophysics and apply experimental approaches to investigate the structure and function of asymmetric membranes. Additionally, he is passionate about teaching, outreach, and science communication. Outside the lab, you can find him at concerts or museums, and he also enjoys swimming, reading, and playing tabletop games.

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Leon Bergner

PhD student

Email: leon.bergner@scilifelab.se 

Leon is a PhD student within the Biophysics program at DBB, Stockholm University. He did his master’s in Engineering Physics within the Theoretical Physics track at KTH. His master’s project was focused on using MD simulations to study the effects of Caveolin on cell membrane curvature. In his PhD, he is using computational methods to study the effects of membrane asymmetry on the biophysical properties of membranes.