Assistant Professor Microbiology & Immunology and Bioengineering

Matthias is a physicist with a Diplom (the old fashioned 5 year to BS/MS equivalent German degree) from the University of Technology Dresden (TU Dresden, Germany). Fascinated by the fundamentals of how cells build compartments and reaction spaces he trained as a membrane biophysicist for his master thesis with Dr. Petra Schwille (then TU Dresden, Germany) and later his Ph.D. with Patricia Bassereau (Institut Curie, Paris, France). During this time, Matthias developed methods to measure ion currents across biomimetic model systems, lipid membranes and liposomes. He then applied his biophysical skill sets to understand how the malaria parasite organizes transport of nutrients and proteins to survive in red blood cells doing a postdoc in the laboratory of Dr. Joshua Zimmerberg at the National Institutes of Health (Bethesda, USA).

Matthias is super curious about mechanisms of parasitism, how host-cells are remodeled to integrate the parasite and how we can use mechanisms of parasitism in biomedical applications, loves traveling to experience humanity with cultural context, is happy to live and work with people from all over the world that find answers to the worlds most difficult  questions.

E-mail: mgarten [at] stanford.edu

Postdoctoral Researcher 

Ananya has a Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, Bengaluru, India. Ananya studied the significance of autophagy for artemisinin resistance of malaria parasites in the lab of Dr. Namita Surolia.

Currently Ananya is working on understanding how contact sites are formed in the malaria parasite - host red blood cell interface and is also interested in how the parasite can eat the host cell cytosol. 

Martin has a B.A. in Microbiology from Washington University in St. Louis. At Washington University he studied the effects and insertions of mitochondrial DNA into the nuclear genome of various Drosophila species.

Currently Martin is researching how lipids are transported into the red blood cells and the effects of the nCR1 transport protein. He also enjoys cooking new dishes from various cultures and playing tennis. 

Staff Scientist

Kyle has a M.S. in Physics from Oregon State University and a background in optics/material science. He is fascinated by biophysical and biochemical mechanisms that occur at cellular and subcellular levels in intracellular parasites.

He is currently studying the dynamics of the parasitophorous vacuole membrane and of proteins exported by the malaria parasite. In his free time, he enjoys rock climbing, skiing and mountain biking.

BioE PhD student

Winter rotation 2024

BioE PhD student

Fall rotation 2023

BioE Master Student, research assistant

Spring 2023

BioE undergrad

Spring 2023

Features view to a common area and daylight, lot s of bench space, a tissue culture area, microscopy rooms. The lab has bamboo finish on the furniture and smells great. It is a fantastic place to be in and work on parasites.

PhD student, BioE

Summer rotation 2023

PhD student, BioE

Winter rotation 2023

Summer Undergraduate Research Fellow,  UCLA

Summer 2023