Since 2018
Speaker of the Research Center for Infectious Diseases (ZINF)
University of Würzburg
Since May 2017
Full Professor, Chair of Molecular Infection Biology II, Institute of Molecular Infection Biology (IMIB), University of Würzburg
Research Projects:
Deep sequencing-based transcriptome and RNA-protein complex analysis; functional characterization of small RNAs and RNA binding proteins in Helicobacter pylori and Campylobacter jejuni; 3D tissue models to study bacterial pathogenesis
Mar 2016 - May 2017
Interim Chair, Chair of Molecular Infection Biology II, Institute of Molecular Infection Biology (IMIB), University of Würzburg
June 2010 - Feb 2016
Young Investigator Group Leader at the Research Center for Infectious Diseases (ZINF), University of Würzburg, Germany
Aug 2010 - Dec 2010
Visiting Researcher at National Institute of Health CBMP/NICHD
Section on Environmental Gene Regulation (Gisela Storz, Ph. D.) Bethesda, MD, USA
Research Project:
Functional characterization of small proteins in Helicobacter pylori (supported by a Boehringer Ingelheim Fonds travel allowance)
Jul 2009 - May 2010
Postdoc at the Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology (MPI-IB)
RNA Biology group (Prof. Jörg Vogel), Berlin, Germany
Research Projects:
RNomics of Infectious Diseases (BMBF NGFN+ project)
Deep sequencing-based analysis of bacterial transcriptomes
Discovery of small regulatory RNAs in Helicobacter pylori
Sep 2004 - Jun 2009
Graduate student at MPI-IB
Thesis (Dr. rer. nat.):
Identification of small regulatory RNAs and their targets in bacteria,
supervised by Prof. Robert Giegerich (Dept. of Applied Computer Science, University of Bielefeld) and Prof. Jörg Vogel (MPI-IB)
Apr 2006
Visiting scientist at University of Bordeaux, France
INSERM U869, RNA lab (Dr. Fabien Darfeuille)
Project: Biochemical structure probing of sRNA-target interactions
1998-2004
Diplom degree in Biology, Heinrich Heine University, Düsseldorf, Germany
Majors: Biophysics, Bioinformatics, Computer Science.
Thesis: Identification of local RNA structural elements in genomic sequences,
supervised by Prof. Dr. Gerhard Steger (Bioinformatics group).
2003
Tutor (Bioinformatics) and lab assistant at the Institute for Biophysics,
Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf
AWARDS
2015: Heinz Maier-Leibnitz Preis 2015 der Deutschen Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG)
Young investigator award of the German Research Foundation (DFG)
2013: DGHM-Förderpreis 2013
Young investigator award of the foundation of the German Association for Hygiene and Microbiology
2011: Robert-Koch-Postdoktorandenpreis für Mikrobiologie 2011
Postdoc award in Microbiology of the Robert Koch Foundation and German Association for Hygiene and Microbiology
2011: Ingrid zu Solms-Naturwissenschaftspreis 2011
PhD thesis award for life sciences of the Ingrid-zu-Solms foundation
FELLOWSHIPS
2012-2017: Junges Kolleg der Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften
(Young academy fellowship of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences)
2014-2016: ESCMID (European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases) Research Fellowship
2014: ESCMID/FEMS Research Fellowship 2014 awarded for the ESCMID research proposal
2012-2015: Postdoktorandenstipendium der Daimler-und-Benz-Stiftung
(Postdoc/Young Investigator grant of the Daimler-and-Benz-Foundation)
2010: Boehringer Ingelheim Fonds travel allowance for a three-month research stay at the National
Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD