Faculty of Biology, Chemistry and Earth Sciences
Chair Animal Ecology I
PhD candidate Animal Ecology | Supervisor Prof. Dr. Christian Laforsch
PhD candidate Biological Physics | Supervisor Prof. Dr. Holger Kress
PhD project: CRC 1357 Microplastic | Subproject A04 | Cellular uptake of microparticles as a function of elementary particle properties
My PhD project is in the topic area of microplastics within the project PlasticsFateE (Plastics Fate and Effects in the human body) and subproject A04 of the Collaborative Research Centre 1357 Microplastics.
The main objective of PlasticsFatE (Plastics Fate and Effects in the human body) is to improve our current understanding of the effects of micro- and nanoplastics (MP/NP) and associated additives/adsorbed contaminants (A/C) in the human body.
In PlasticsFatE, we are investigating (1) the occurrence of MP/NP in a variety of complex matrices such as food (vegetables, fruits, beverages, fish, etc.), consumer products (toothpaste, cosmetics) and relevant environmental media (air, drinking water, soils); (2) the fate (including long-term) of MP/NP in the human body; and (3) the transport of MP/NP through biological barriers and their potential cytotoxicity. PlasticsFatE is part of the European MNP cluster (CUSP) on human health.
PlasticsFatE is a 48-month project funded by the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme. The project will run from 1 April 2021 to 31 March 2025.
More information: https://www.plasticsfate.eu
The Collaborative Research Centre (SFB) 1357: "Microplastics - Laws of formation, transport, physico-chemical behaviour and biological effects: From model to complex systems as a basis for new solutions" researches the formation, migration and effects of microplastics and develops new solutions for this immense environmental problem.
Within the SFB 1357, I am mainly involved in project A04: "Cellular uptake of microparticles depending on elementary particle properties". Different model MP particles as well as model particles for naturally occurring particulate material are incubated in freshwater and soil and resulting surface changes are biomolecularly and physicochemically characterised. Subsequently, different polyelectrolyte multilayer-coated model particles are produced, each of which resembles the incubated particles in one property (e.g. identical mechanics or charge density). By comparing the different particles, the relevance of this property for the adhesion of the particles to cells and the internalisation into cells will be quantitatively investigated.
More information: https://www.sfb-mikroplastik.uni-bayreuth.de
Faculty of Biology, Chemistry and Earth Sciences
Chair Animal Ecology I
Publications
2025
Christian Laforsch, Eva Cseperke Vizsolyi, Anja Ramsperger, Simon Wieland, Julian Brehm, Sven Ritschar, Holger Kress, Martin G. J. Löder: Environmental Fate and Effects of Microplastics on Organisms. In: Andrea Buettner, Eckhard Weidner (Hrsg.): Springer Handbook of Circular Plastics Economy. - Cham : Springer, 2025. - S. 793-807.
doi:10.1007/978-3-031-66209-6_40
Dmitri Ciornii, Vasile-Dan Hodoroaba, Nizar Benismail, Alina Maltseva, Juan F. Ferrer, Jiamin Wang, Raquel Parra, Ronan Jézéquel, Justine Receveur, Dina Gabriel, Andreas Scheitler, Christa van Oversteeg, Jorg Roosma, Alex van Renesse van Duivenbode, Tim Bulters, Michela Zanella, Alessandro Perini, Federico Benetti, Dora Mehn, Georg Dierkes, Michael Soll, Takahisa Ishimura, Marius Bednarz, Guyu Peng, Lars Hildebrandt, Mathias Peters, Seung-Kyu Kim, Jochen Türk, Felix Steinfeld, Jaehak Jung, Sanghee Hong, Eun-Ju Kim, Hye-Weon Yu, Sven Klockmann, Christoph Krafft, Julia Süssmann, Shan Zou, Alexandra ter Halle, Andrea M. Giovannozzi, Alessio Sacco, Marta Fadda, Mara Putzu, Dong-Hoon Im, Nontete Nhlapo, Priscilla Carrillo-Barragán, Natascha Schmidt, Dorte Herzke, Alessio Gomiero, Adrián Jaén-Gil, Damien J. E. Cabanes, Martin Doedt, Vitor Cardoso, Antje Schmitz, Moritz Hawly, Huajuan Mo, Justine Jacquin, Andy Mechlinski, Gbotemi A. Adediran, Jose Andrade, Soledad Muniategui-Lorenzo, Anja Ramsperger, Martin G. J. Löder, Christian Laforsch, Tanja Cirkovic Velickovic, Daniele Fabbri, Irene Coralli, Stefania Federici, Barbara M. Scholz-Böttcher, Jacopo la Nasa, Greta Biale, Cassandra Rauert, Elvis D. Okoffo, Anna Undas, Lihui An, Volker Wachtendorf, Petra Fengler, Korinna Altmann: Interlaboratory Comparison Reveals State of the Art in Microplastic Detection and Quantification Methods. In: Analytical Chemistry, 97 (2025). - S. 8719-8728.
doi:10.1021/acs.analchem.4c05403
Anja Ramsperger, Simon Wieland, Magdalena V. Wilde, Thomas Fröhlich, Holger Kress, Christian Laforsch: Cellular internalization pathways of environmentally exposed microplastic particles : Phagocytosis or macropinocytosis?. In: Journal of Hazardous Materials, 489 (2025). - .
doi:10.1016/j.jhazmat.2025.137647
2024
Anja Ramsperger:Environmental Microplastics : How the Surface Properties of Microplastic Particles Determine their Particle-Cell Interactions. - Bayreuth: 2024. - 335 S.
(Dissertation, 2024, Universität Bayreuth, Bayreuther Graduiertenschule für Mathematik und Naturwissenschaften - BayNAT)
doi:10.15495/EPub_UBT_00007708
Maike Y. Adler, Insaf Issoual, Michael Rückert, Lisa Deloch, Carola Meier, Thomas Tschernig, Christoph Alexiou, Felix Pfister, Anja Ramsperger, Christian Laforsch, Udo S. Gaipl, Katharina Jüngert, Friedrich Paulsen: Effect of micro- and nanoplastic particles on human macrophages. In: Journal of Hazardous Materials, 471 (2024). - .
doi:10.1016/j.jhazmat.2024.134253
Simon Wieland, Anja Ramsperger, Wolfgang Groß, Moritz Lehmann, Thomas Witzmann, Anja Caspari, Martin Obst, Stephan Gekle, Günter K. Auernhammer, Andreas Fery, Christian Laforsch, Holger Kress: Nominally identical microplastic models differ greatly in their particle-cell interactions. In: Nature Communications, 15 (2024). - .
doi:10.1038/s41467-024-45281-4
2023
Susanne Saha, Christian Laforsch, Anja Ramsperger, Dennis Niebel: Mikroplastik und dermatologische Versorgung. In: Die Dermatologie, 74 (2023). - S. 27-33.
doi:10.1007/s00105-022-05035-z
Anja Ramsperger, Enrico Bergamaschi, Marco Panizzolo, Ivana Fenoglio, Francesco Barbero, Ruud Peters, Anna Undas, Sebastian Purker, Bernd Giese, Carina R. Lalyer, Alba Tamargo, M. Victoria Moreno-Arribas, Hans-Peter Grossart, Dana Kühnel, Jana Dietrich, Friedrich Paulsen, Anani K. Afanou, Shan Zienolddiny-Narui, Stine Eriksen Hammer, Torunn Kringlen Ervik, Pål Graff, Bendik C. Brinchmann, Karl-Christian Nordby, Håkan Wallin, Matteo Nassi, Federico Benetti, Michela Zanella, Julian Brehm, Holger Kress, Martin G. J. Löder, Christian Laforsch: Nano- and microplastics : a comprehensive review on their exposure routes, translocation, and fate in humans. In: NanoImpact, 29 (2023). - .
doi:10.1016/j.impact.2022.100441
Christian Laforsch, Anja Ramsperger, Sven Ritschar: Mikroplastik und der mögliche Einfluss auf die menschliche Gesundheit. In: Viviane Scherenberg, Johanne Pundt (Hrsg.): Klima-und Gesundheitsschutz : Planetary-Health-Lösungsansätze. - Bremen : Apollon University Press, 2023. - S. 131-158.
2022
Thomas Witzmann, Anja Ramsperger, Simon Wieland, Christian Laforsch, Holger Kress, Andreas Fery, Günter K. Auernhammer: Repulsive Interactions of Eco-corona-Covered Microplastic Particles Quantitatively Follow Modeling of Polymer Brushes. In: Langmuir, 38 (2022). - S. 8748-8756.
doi:10.1021/acs.langmuir.1c03204
Anja Ramsperger, Julia Jasinski, Matthias Völkl, Thomas Witzmann, Marcel Meinhart, Valérie Jérôme, Winfried Kretschmer, Ruth Freitag, Jürgen Senker, Andreas Fery, Holger Kress, Thomas Scheibel, Christian Laforsch: Supposedly identical microplastic particles substantially differ in their material properties influencing particle-cell interactions and cellular responses. In: Journal of Hazardous Materials, 425 (2022). - .
doi:10.1016/j.jhazmat.2021.127961
Simon Wieland, Aylin Balmes, Julian Bender, Jonas Kitzinger, Felix Meyer, Anja Ramsperger, Franz Roeder, Caroline Tengelmann, Benedik H. Wimmer, Christian Laforsch, Holger Kress: From properties to toxicity : comparing microplastics to other airborne microparticles. In: Journal of Hazardous Materials, 428 (2022). - .
doi:10.1016/j.jhazmat.2021.128151
2021
Alfons Weig, Martin G. J. Löder, Anja Ramsperger, Christian Laforsch: In situ Prokaryotic and Eukaryotic Communities on Microplastic Particles in a Small Headwater Stream in Germany. In: Frontiers in Microbiology, 12 (2021). - .
doi:10.3389/fmicb.2021.660024
2020
Anja Ramsperger, Vinay Kumar Bangalore Narayana, Wolfgang Gross, John Mohanraj, Mukundan Thelakkat, Andreas Greiner, Holger Schmalz, Holger Kress, Christian Laforsch: Environmental exposure enhances the internalization of microplastic particles into cells. In: Science Advances, 6 (2020). - .
doi:10.1126/sciadv.abd1211
Christian Laforsch, Anja Ramsperger, Simona Mondellini, Tamara S. Galloway: Microplastics : A Novel Suite of Environmental Contaminants but Present for Decades. In: Franz-Xaver Reichl, Michael Schwenk (Hrsg.): Regulatory Toxicology. - Berlin : Springer, 2020. - S. 1-26.
doi:10.1007/978-3-642-36206-4_138-1
James D. O´Connor, Anne M. Mahon, Anja Ramsperger, Benjamin Trotter, Paula E. Redondo-Hasselerharm, Albert A. Koelmans, Heather T. Lally, Sinéad Murphy: Microplastics in Freshwater Biota : A Critical Review of Isolation, Characterization, and Assessment Methods. In: Global Challenges, 4 (2020). - .
doi:10.1002/gch2.201800118
Anja Ramsperger, Anja C. Stellwag, Anja Caspari, Andreas Fery, Tillmann Lüders, Holger Kress, Martin G. J. Löder, Christian Laforsch: Structural Diversity in Early-Stage Biofilm Formation on Microplastics Depends on Environmental Medium and Polymer Properties. In: Water, 12 (2020). - .
doi:10.3390/w12113216
2019
Benjamin Trotter, Anja Ramsperger, Patricia Raab, Julia Haberstroh, Christian Laforsch: Plastic waste interferes with chemical communication in aquatic ecosystems. In: Scientific Reports, 9 (2019). - .
doi:10.1038/s41598-019-41677-1
2017
Hannes Imhof, Robert Sigl, Emilia Brauer, Sabine Feyl, Philipp Giesemann, Stefan Klink, Kathrin Leupolz, Martin G. J. Löder, Lena Löschel, Jan Missun, Sarah Muszynski, Anja Ramsperger, Isabella Schrank, Susan Speck, Sebastian Steibl, Benjamin Trotter, Isabel Winter, Christian Laforsch: Spatial and temporal variation of macro-, meso- and microplastic abundance on a remote coral island of the Maldives, Indian Ocean. In: Marine Pollution Bulletin, 116 (2017). - S. 340-347.
doi:10.1016/j.marpolbul.2017.01.010
