Verena Link, Ph.D.
Verena is originally from Munich, Germany, and earned her bachelor's and master's degrees in computational biology through a joint program at Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich and the Technical University of Munich. She completed her Ph.D. through a collaborative program between Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich and the University of California, San Diego under the mentorship of Dr. Dirk Metzler and Dr. Christopher Glass.
Her doctoral research focused on how environmental and genetic factors shape macrophage function, leading to the discovery of tissue-specific transcription factor programs and novel mechanisms of enhancer regulation. She also developed MMARGE, a computational framework that integrates genetic variation with epigenetic data to assess the impact of mutations on transcription factor binding.
For her postdoctoral training at the National Institutes of Health in the laboratory of Dr. Yasmine Belkaid, Verena studied how environmental factors influence immune function. Her work included developing an improved mouse model of psoriasis and leading a highly controlled human dietary intervention comparing ketogenic and vegan diets, revealing distinct effects on adaptive and innate immunity.
Outside the lab, Verena enjoys spending time with her husband and three children, exploring California’s outdoors, and traveling.
We are excited to recruit curious, motivated wet- and dry-lab scientists at all career stages to join our growing team. If you are passionate about discovering how nutrition, the microbiome, and genetic diversity shape the immune system - or if you are eager to build next-generation multi-omics analysis pipelines - this could be the perfect environment for you. We would love to hear from you! Please send your CV along with a brief description of your research interests to vlink2@health.ucdavis.edu.