Lab members

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Robert obtained his MD and doctoral degree in immunology from LMU Munich, Germany. After his postdoc at UNC Chapel Hill, he was recruited to Columbia University in 2003. His goal is to use innovative approaches to better understand mechanisms of liver disease and develop novel treatments for fatty liver, fibrosis and cancer. Robert is also the inaugural director of Columbia's NIH P30-funded Digestive and Liver Disease Research Center (https://www.columbiadldrc.org). Outside the lab, Robert likes to cook, travel and bike.

 Marcella obtained her MD from Marburg University and was trained in general surgery at Technical University, Munich, Germany. Marcella seeks to find novel therapeutic targets in hepatocellular by combining in vivo CRISPR screens and multimodal pharmacologic treatments with single cell-based analysis of transcriptional "master regulators" from patients. Marcella is supported by a grant from the German Research Foundation (DFG).  Marcella loves to hike and is planning to run the New York marathon in 2026! 

Vera obtained her PhD in Molecular Medicine from the University of Santiago de Compostela, Spain. Vera  joined the Schwabe lab  in late 2024.  She combines computational analysis tools with in vivo CRISPRi sceens to uncover to uncover tumor cell - immune crosstalk and novel therapeutic targets in hepatocellullar carcinoma (HCC). Finding liver/HCC-specific approaches and concepts may open up novel treatment options/combinations. Vera is a passionate coffee lover who enjoys discovering new restaurants and coffee spots across New York City.

Max earned his PhD from Jilin University and trained in biomedical research focused on liver disease and cancer. Max joined the Schwabe Lab in 2025. He seeks to understand how metabolic stress and promote disease progression, with the goal of identifying novel therapeutic targets . Outside the lab, Max enjoys spending time with his family and exploring NYC. He is  passionate about Chinese calligraphy and dreams of exhibiting his artwork inNYC  one day!

Qiuyan received her BS in Nutritional Sciences from Cornell University and defended her thesis in teh Schwabe lab in 2025. She is interested in finding  therapeutic vulnerabilities for  intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma, combining experimal in vivo models, in vitro studis and CRISPRi screens with single cell and spatial omics analyses. Outside lab, she is an amateur writer in science fiction.  She is also the mother of two cats (Luke and Leia).

  Sheila received her BS in Physiological Sciences from UCLA and joined the Schwabe lab in 2024. She is interested  developing novel therapies for FGFR2 fusion-positive cholangiocarcinoma, focusing on tareting tumor cells and the CCA stroma. Sheila was born and raised in Cuba, where she trained as a ballet dancer before she became passionate about science. Sheila serves on the board of the Latin Dance Club at Columbia, where she teaches weekly salsa classes.

Deqi graudated Medical School in China in 1983, and worked as physician majoring in infectious diseases. After working in the Kandel lab for over a decade, he joined the Schwabe Lab in 2016. Deqi supervises all transgenic mice for projects related to  stellate cell biology and liver carcinogenesis. Deqi loves to cook dumplings - if you ever join our lab, you will see how good they are!

Atsushi is back in Japan pursuing his career as surgeon and clinician-scientist. Congrats again for your Nature paper and an outstanding job during the past 2 years. We miss you!

Thanks Oscar for a great job! Best of luck for your career in biomedicine.

Yoshi is back in Japan, where he runs his own lab now. Congrats on a great first and corresponding author paper in Gastroenterology and our recent Nature paper! Thanks for all your amazing work!

Aveline works in Scott Lowe's lab at MSKCC, where she directs the liver caner research. Congrats again for your 2022 Nature paper and all the amazing work!

 Silvia is an independent group leader in Barcelona, where she continues to study cholangiocarcinoma. Silvia recently received a highly prestigious ERC grant - congrats! And congrats on your amazing 2021 Cancer Cell paper!

Back in Munich. After another short stint in academia now working in a small start up and being very successful! Congrats again for your highly cited 2021 JCI paper!