Dr. Vera Zywitza
Wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiterin
Abteilung für Reproduktionsmanagement
Tel: 0049 (0) 30 5168 - 681
E-Mail: zywitza@izw-berlin.de
Kurzer Lebenslauf
Dr. Vera Zywitza studied at Technische Universität München in Munich, earning a B. Sc. in Science Education (Biology and Chemistry) and a M. Sc. in Molecular Biotechnology. She completed her PhD in Molecular Biology at the Berlin Institute for Medical Systems Biology (BIMSB) at the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC), Berlin.
In 2019, she joined the BioRescue team (https://www.biorescue.org/en) and worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the MDC technology platform `Pluripotent Stem Cells´, focusing on the generation and characterization of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) from endangered species such as the northern white rhinoceros. Together with Dr. Sebastian Diecke and Prof. Katsuhiko Hayashi, her research aims to differentiate stem cells into functional gametes.
Since 2025, Vera has been a member of the Department of Reproduction Management at Leibniz-IZW. There, she continues her research on animal iPSCs and supervises the cell culture team responsible for cryopreserving tissues and fibroblasts for the IZW biobank.
- Stem cell technologies and reprogramming of diverse animal species
- Biobanking/cryopreservation of living cellular material across the animal kingdom
- In vitro gametogenesis
- Genome sequencing
Zywitza, V., Rusha, E., Shaposhnikov, D., Ruiz-Orera, J., Telugu, N., Rishko, V., Hayashi, M., Michel, G., Wittler, L., Stejskal, J., et al. (2022a). Naïve-like pluripotency to pave the way for saving the northern white rhinoceros from extinction. Sci. Rep. 12, 3100. DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-07059-w
Zywitza, V., Frahm, S., Krüger, N., Weise, A., Göritz, F., Hermes, R., Holtze, S., Colleoni, S., Galli, C., Drukker, M., et al. (2022b). Induced pluripotent stem cells and cerebral organoids from the critically endangered Sumatran rhinoceros. iScience 105414. DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2022.105414
Hayashi, M., Zywitza, V., Naitou, Y., Hamazaki, N., Goeritz, F., Hermes, R., Holtze, S., Lazzari, G., Galli, C., Stejskal, J., et al. (2022). Robust induction of primordial germ cells of white rhinoceros on the brink of extinction. Sci. Adv. 8, eabp9683. DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abp9683
Zywitza, V., Misios, A., Bunatyan, L., Willnow, T.E., and Rajewsky, N. (2018). Single-cell transcriptomics characterizes cell types in the subventricular zone and uncovers molecular defects impairing adult neurogenesis. Cell Rep. 25, 2457–2469.e8. DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2018.11.003