Principal Investigator Helmholtz Pioneer Campus
Dr. Janna Nawroth
Research Area
Janna Nawroth received her PhD in Biology at the California Institute of Technology, where she studied the structure-function relationships of jellyfish propulsion and used these insights to engineer muscle powered pumps for biomedical research. For her postdoctoral training, she was awarded the Technology Development Fellowship at the Harvard University Wyss Institute. She developed Organ-Chips and advanced imaging technologies with Don Ingber and Kit Parker to study the mechanics of human heart, lung and liver tissues, before continuing this work at the Organ-Chip company Emulate and later at the University of Southern California. In 2020, Dr. Nawroth received an ERC Starting grant for studying the role of mechanical forces and defective mucociliary clearance in chronic airway disease. In 2021, Dr. Nawroth joined the Helmholtz Pioneer Campus.
Professional Background
Principal Investigator at Helmholtz Pioneer Campus, Helmholtz Munich
Junior Fellow at Technical University Munich (TUM), Germany
Senior Research Associate at USC Keck School of Medicine and USC Viterbi School of Engineering, Los Angeles, CA, USA
Associate Director, Research & Development Lead at Emulate Inc., Boston, MA
Principal Investigator at Emulate Inc., Boston, MA, USA
Postdoctoral Fellow & Technology Development Fellow, Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA
Postdoctoral Fellow, Graduate Aerospace Laboratories, Division of Engineering & Applied Science, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA
Ph.D. Graduate Student, Division of Biology, California Institute of Technology,Pasadena, CA, USA
Research Associate in Neurobiology, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA
Honors and Awards
2025 Henriette-Herz-Scout (Alexander-von-Humboldt Foundation)
2024 Volkswagen Foundation Pioneering Research Award
2023 Whitman Center Fellowship, Marine Biology Laboratory (MBL), Woods Hole, USA
2014-2016 Wyss Technology Development Fellowship at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, Boston, MA
2013 Demetriades–Tsafka–Kokkalis price for best Ph.D. thesis in Nanotechnology and related fields, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA
2012 Everhart Lecture Award, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA
2009 PENS-Hertie Neuroscience Winter School Scholar, Hertie Foundation, Germany
2008-2012 Gordon and Betty Moore Fellowship for Graduate Studies, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA
2008 Fellowship for “Neural Systems & Behavior” Graduate Level Research Course, Marine Biology Laboratory, Woods Hole, MA
2005 6-Month Scholarship for research semester at Yale University, German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD)
2003 6-Month Erasmus Mundus Scholarship Exchange Study Program at Montpellier University, France
2001-2007 Scholarship for Bachelor and Master Studies, German National Merit Foundation (Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes)
Publications
Sahin, A.T. ; Tepho, N. ; Ryan, A. ; Nawroth, J.
Late Breaking Abstract - Obesity is associated with altered epithelial lipid storage and impaired mucociliary clearance of the human airways.Klassen, M.C. ; Balázs, A. ; Zöllner, J. ; Cleve, N. ; Czichon, L. ; von Schledorn, L. ; Hegermann, J. ; Nawroth, J. ; Roth, D. ; Mielenz, M. ; Hedtfeld, S. ; Stanke, F. ; Rubil, T. ; Ius, F. ; Jonigk, D. ; Hanrahan, J.W. ; Ruhparwar, A. ; Olmer, R. ; Mall, M.A. ; Merkert, S. ; Martin, U.
Human induced pluripotent stem cells for in vitro modeling of impaired mucociliary clearance in cystic fibrosis lung disease.Korkmaz, R.Ü. ; Omony, J. ; Tan, X. ; Klotz, M. ; Dragunas, G. ; Chen, S. ; Shankhwar, S. ; Ertüz, Z. ; Müller, C. ; Ragab, M. ; Jeridi, A. ; Augustin, R. ; Nawroth, J. ; Kapellos, T. ; Rankl, B. ; Yildirim, A.Ö. ; von Mutius, E.
The therapeutic potential of farm dust extracts in a mouse model of eosinophilic inflammation.Roth, D. ; Zampa, B. ; Augustin, R. ; Payandehjoo, D. ; Porcella, G. ; Sahin, A.T. ; van der Does, A.M. ; Nawroth, J.
Release, transfer, fold: Using a silicone adhesive for on-demand 3D tissue engineering.Roth, D. ; Sahin, A.T. ; Ling, F. ; Tepho, N. ; Senger, C.N. ; Quiroz, E.J. ; Calvert, B.A. ; van der Does, A.M. ; Güney, T.G. ; Glasl, S. ; van Schadewijk, A. ; von Schledorn, L. ; Olmer, R. ; Kanso, E. ; Nawroth, J. ; Ryan, A.L.
Structure and function relationships of mucociliary clearance in human and rat airways.Koc-Gunel, S. ; Liu, E.C. ; Gautam, L.K. ; Calvert, B.A. ; Murthy, S. ; Harriott, N.C. ; Nawroth, J. ; Zhou, B. ; Krymskaya, V.P. ; Ryan, A.L.
Targeting fibroblast-endothelial interactions in LAM pathogenesis using 3D spheroid models and spatial transcriptomics.Funk, M.C. ; Nawroth, J. ; Lehmann, M.
A breath of the future: A novel human model for COPD and beyond.Roth, D. ; Sahin, A.T. ; Ling, F. ; Senger, C.N. ; Quiroz, E.J. ; Calvert, B.A. ; van der Does, A.M. ; Güney, T.G. ; Tepho, N. ; Glasl, S. ; van Schadewijk, A. ; von Schledorn, L. ; Olmer, R. ; Kanso, E. ; Nawroth, J. ; Ryan, A.L.
Structure-function relationships of mucociliary clearance in human airways.Ling, F. ; Essock-Burns, T. ; McFall-Ngai, M. ; Katija, K. ; Nawroth, J. ; Kanso, E.
Flow physics guides morphology of ciliated organs.Nawroth, J. ; Giez, C. ; Klimovich, A. ; Kanso, E. ; Bosch, T.C.G.
Spontaneous body wall contractions stabilize the fluid microenvironment that shapes host-microbe associations.
