Felix Thoma

PhD student

thoma@bio.lmu.de

Room B02.056

Office +49 89 2180 74051

Lab +49 89 2180 74271

Research Focus

Felix studies how cells maintain the quality of mitochondrial DNA in budding yeast, with a focus on how defective mitochondrial genomes are recognized and eliminated. His work combines yeast genetics, fluorescence microscopy, and quantitative assays to track how different mtDNA variants are inherited across generations. His work shows that local physiological differences within mitochondria, particularly bioenergetic differences linked to genome quality, can drive purifying selection against harmful mtDNA variants.

Academic Timeline

Education

PhD Student

LMU Munich

2021 — present

Master Molecular & Cellular Biology

LMU Munich

2018 — 2021

Bachelor Biology

University of Salzburg

2015 — 2018

Research Contributions

7 Papers

Publications from the Osman Lab

PLoS Genet.

Local mitochondrial physiology defined by mtDNA quality guides purifying selection

Thoma, F., Hagen, J., Rathberger, R., Padovani, F., Hörl, D., Schmoller, K., Osman, C.^#

PLOS Genetics | 2026

Mol. Cell

Delayed protein translocation protects mitochondria against toxic CAT-tailed proteins

Bertram, N., Izawa, T., Thoma, F., Schwenkert, S., Duvezin-Caubet, S., Park, S., Wagener, N., Devin, A., Osman, C., Neupert, W., Mokranjac, D.^#

Molecular Cell | 2025

EMBO J.

Real-time assessment of mitochondrial DNA heteroplasmy dynamics at the single-cell level

Roussou, R., Metzler, D., Padovani, F., Thoma, F., Schwarz, R., Shraiman, B., Schmoller, K., Osman, C.^#

The EMBO Journal | 2024

Nat. Struct. Mol. Biol.

Regulation with cell size ensures mitochondrial DNA homeostasis during cell growth

Seel, A., Padovani, F., Mayer, M., Finster, A., Bureik, D., Thoma, F., Osman, C., Klecker, T., Schmoller, K.^#

Nature Structural & Molecular Biology | 2023

Bioinformatics

YeastMate: neural network-assisted segmentation of mating and budding events in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Bunk, R., Moriasy, J., Thoma, F., Jakubke, C., Osman, C., Hörl, D.^#

Bioinformatics | 2022

Sci. Adv.

Cristae-dependent quality control of the mitochondrial genome

Jakubke, C.^*, Roussou, R.^*, Maiser, A., Schug, C., Thoma, F., Bunk, R., Hörl, D., Leonhardt, H., Walter, P., Klecker, T., Osman, C.^#

Science Advances | 2021

Publications outside the Osman Lab

Radiat Oncol

Development of a model for fibroblast-led collective migration from breast cancer cell spheroids to study radiation effects on invasiveness

Mei, J., Böhland, C., Geiger, A., Baur, I., Berner, K., Heuer, S., Liu, X., Mataite, L., Melo‑Narváez, M., Özkaya, E., Rupp, A., Siebenwirth, C., Thoma, F., Kling, M., Friedl, A.

Radiation Oncology | 2021