| 2022 - present | Faculty member of BioTechMed-Graz, Austria |
| 2020 - present | Assistant Professor (§99/5) Molecular Immunology of the Cardiovascular System, Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Graz, Austria |
| 07/23 - 08/24 | Maternity leave |
| 2019 - 2020 | Post-doctoral fellow, Laboratory of Prof. Elena Galkina, Institute of Microbiology, Eastern Virginia Medical School, Virginia, USA |
| 2017 | Visiting Scientist, Laboratory of Prof. Daniel Ketelhuth, Institute of Molecular Medicine, Karolinska Institute, Sweden |
| 2017 - 2019 | Lecturer at the University of Applied Sciences, Krems, Austria |
| 2016 - 2019 | Lecturer at the Medical University Vienna, Austria |
| 2015 - 2019 | Post-doctoral fellow, Laboratory of Prof. Johannes Schmid, Institute of Vascular Biology and Thrombosis Research, Medical University Vienna, Austria |
| 2014- 2015 | Post-doctoral fellow at the Department of Pharmacology, University of Graz |
| 2014 | PhD Defence (PhD) (Biochemistry & Molecular Biology) |
| 2011 - 2014 | Doctoral fellow at the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, University of Graz, Austria; Mentor: Univ.-Prof. Bernd Mayer |
| 2013 | Research Stay, Laboratory of Prof. Christian Wolfrum, Department of Health Sciences and Technology, ETH Zurich, Switzerland |
| 2006 - 2010 | Study of Pharmaceutical Sciences (Mag. pharm.), University of Graz |
Publications:
The focus of the Mussbacher lab (“Care bears”) lies in understanding the complex crosstalk of inflammatory and metabolic mediators that shape obesity-related diseases such as atherosclerosis and fatty liver diseases. We aim to identify mechanisms that initiate and finetune immunological and inflammatory responses to metabolic alterations during obesity and associated diseases.
Fatty acids as mediators of organ crosstalk - We focus on fatty acids as important determinants of the immunological state of adipose tissue and investigate, how adipose tissue lipolysis affects the development of cardiometabolic diseases such as atherosclerosis.
The fatty scarf of blood vessels - We are interested in how local adipose tissue depots (e.g. perivascular adipose tissue) impact blood vessel functions under basal and diseased conditions.
Communicating platelets - We are investigating how platelets finetune metabolic processes such as endoplasmic reticulum stress and steatosis by interacting with leukocytes and hepatocytes.
Leukocyte training - We are studying the beneficial effects of exercise for the treatment of cardiometabolic diseases with a special focus on immune cells and inflammation.
