Lara Keuck.

Lara Keuck

Professor of history and philosophy of medicine
Bielefeld University

Lara Keuck leads the history and philosophy of medicine group at Bielefeld University. Her group studies how the boundaries of medical knowledge have transformed over time and the impact these changes have had in establishing and revising key concepts and methods in medical research such as validation, modeling and translating. She has also published widely on the history and philosophy of Alzheimer’s disease research and classification. 

After earning her M.Sc. in molecular biomedicine, Keuck pursued a doctoral program in history and philosophy of medicine at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz and at the École Normale Supérieure, and she completed postdoctoral positions in philosophy and in history at Humboldt University Berlin and at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science. She was awarded a prestigious Branco Weiss Fellowship from ETH Zurich and was granted an independent Max Planck Research Group. 

In 2022, Keuck became the inaugural professor of history and philosophy of medicine at Bielefeld University. She is a founding member of the Bielefeld Institute for Studies of Science and a principal investigator in the TRANSCEND  MSCA-Doctoral Network, which she conceptualized together with fellow Branco Weiss alumni Klaus Eyer and Linda Douw.

Explore more from The Transmitter

Illustrated collage of a monkey profile, a gloved hand holding a vaccine syringe touching an outline of the United States with two primates sitting near it, a strand of DNA, and flags of the United States and China in the background.

U.S. national primate research centers face an uncertain future

The facilities were meant to last 100 years. Four decades shy of that mark, amid flatlined funds and mounting political pressure, their directors are trying to find a path forward.

By Calli McMurray
9 October 2026 | 12 min read
Reflections of primates in lab equipment (bottom left: Rhesus macaque, top left: Pig-tailed macaque, bottom right: Crab-eating macaque. top right: Marmoset

What if nonhuman primate research goes away?

As the U.S. government takes steps to stop using nonhuman primates in research, The Transmitter investigates what that shift could mean for neuroscience.

By The Transmitter
9 October 2026 | 2 min read
Illustration of primate hands interacting with objects of cognitive tests.

The neuroscience questions that need nonhuman primates

The Transmitter asked 17 neuroscientists what questions might remain unanswered if support for nonhuman primate research continues to decline.

By Alissa de Chassey
9 October 2026 | 10 min read