Welcome to the Kleist-group!

The research group is developing and utilizing mathematical and computational methods for data-driven research in computational biology, –medicine and public health. The group is both located at the Robert-Koch Institute (Project group 5) as well as at the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science at the Freie Universität (FU) Berlin (“Mathematics for Data Science”).

For more information, please visit the Research, People and Publications section.

  • Paper on PrEP uptake in Germany published

    We just published our latest par on the uptake of HIV PrEP in Germany since its introduction in the statutory health system: Uptake increasing with differences between urban and rural areas and large impacts of COVID on uptake dynamics. Check it out: https://rdcu.be/dLUsk

  • Paper on dRNA-Seq errors published

    Our latest work on systematic errors in Oxford Nanopore Technology’s (ONT) based direct RNA sequencing are published, with important insights for downstream analysis. There are profound differences with regards to the ability to correctly base-call certain motifs within a transcript. These results can be used to calculate confidence in e.g. mutation or modification detection and…

  • Our latest work with the Hiesinger Lab got published in Science!

    In an integrative experimental-computational work, we could unravel the intriguing mechanisms by which neuronal wiring in developing brains is achieved: We showed for the fly’s visual system that neuronal wiring is achieved by self-organisation during a process called ‘neural superposition’. While this process is inherently stochastic, it results in a robust formation of the fly’s…

  • New publication in Nature Medicine

    Our latest work on adherence-efficacy relationships of FTC/TDF-based HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis got published in Nature Medicine. We provide compelling evidence that FTC/TDF-based PrEP works very well in protecting heterosexual women from HIV infection. Since FTC/TDF are cheap and available in resource-constrained settings, these findings could help establishing PrEP as a major pillar in preventing HIV…

  • New group members

    Malin Müller and Lara Fuhrmann joined the lab! Malin is finishing her master’s in Systems Biology at Maastricht University. She joins the team for her master’s thesis on modelling HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis. Lara is a PhD student in Niko Beerenwinkels lab at ETH (Basel) and also member of the ITN “ViroInf”. She joins our lab…

  • New preprint online

    We just finalised and submitted our comprehensive analysis of Truvada based-PrEP efficacy in women: Synthesis of protective PrEP adherence levels in cis-gender women using convergent clinical and bottom-up modelling. We hope that the work will help to clarify apparent mis-conceptions regarding putative gender-differences in PrEP efficacy and with regards to adherence demands. We would like…

  • New preprint online

    We just uploaded our latest analysis of systematic sequencing errors in Oxford Nanopore Technology (ONT) -based direct RNA sequencing and hope that this comprehensive analysis will contribute to the further development of the technique. Congratulations Liu-Wei and team! Preprint available at: https://doi.org/10.1101/2023.03.29.534691

  • New group member

    Dr. Alexia Raharinirina joined the lab as a postdoc! Alexia is originally from Madagascar and did her undergraduate studies in Mathematics at the AIMS, before conducting a PhD in Germany. Her last position was a post-Doc at the Zuse Institute Berlin (ZIB). She joins the team in a two-years MATH+ project. Welcome Alexia!

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