Anna von Mikecz

Anna von Mikecz is a Researcher and working group leader at the Leibniz Institute for Environmental Medical Research (IUF) in Düsseldorf, Germany, where she directs research on pollutant impacts on nuclear function and neurodegeneration using Caenorhabditis elegans models. Her group investigates how environmental toxins disrupt proteostasis and trigger amyloid-like aggregation resembling neurodegenerative disease pathology.

Her research spans Environmental Toxicology, Nanotoxicology, and Neurodegenerative Disease mechanisms, focusing on how pollutants like silica nanoparticles and tire wear particles impair nuclear protein homeostasis, induce neuronal protein aggregation, and accelerate aging processes. She employs C. elegans to model human neuronal diseases across entire lifespans, revealing critical windows of vulnerability to neurotoxicants and mechanisms linking environmental exposures to Alzheimer's and Parkinson's pathologies.

Analysis of her recent publications shows consistent emphasis on lifespan-resolved neurotoxicity profiling, with strong connections between nanomaterial exposures, serotonergic signaling disruption, and premature aging phenotypes. Her work bridges molecular toxicology and neurodegenerative disease research through innovative use of nematode models to identify environmental risk factors and resilience pathways.

Dr. von Mikecz mentors Master's student Christopher Hänsel and supervises postdocs Dang Tri Le and Annette Limke. Her research receives funding from the German Research Foundation (DFG), Washington University in St. Louis, the Alzheimer Initiative, and HHU's iBRAIN graduate school for neuroscience.

Her laboratory specializes in whole-lifespan pollutant exposure studies in C. elegans, with national collaborations at Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf and the Leibniz Institute for New Materials, plus international partnerships including Washington University in St. Louis and the EU NanoSafetyCluster for translational ecotoxicology research.