Curriculum Vitae
1999-2006 | Studies of Biology University of Rostock, Germany. |
2005-2006 | Diploma student Department of Microbiology, University of Rostock, Germany and Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, University of Zurich, Switzerland. |
Research: During the Diploma thesis I investigated the impact of Quorum sensing regulation on bacteria, which can be used for biological control and plant growth promotion. The work was supervised by Prof. Gabriele Berg (since late 2005: Graz University of Technology, Austria) and Prof. Leo Eberl. Methods: Standard microbiology and molecular biology techniques, dual culture assays, thin layer chromatography, gas chromatography, C.elegans pathogenicity assays. |
|
2006 | Diploma, Biology University of Rostock, Germany. Major Subject: Microbiology. |
2007 | Research assistant Department of Technical Chemistry, University of Rostock, Germany. |
Research: Prior to becoming a PhD student I joined the group of Prof. Udo Kragl, where I isolated enzyme products to characterize the activity of the respective enzymes. Methods: High perfomance liquid chromatography, 2-phase extraction. |
|
2007-2012 | PhD student Max-Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization, Goettingen, Germany. |
Research: The research focus of my PhD thesis was the response of the eukaryotic Actin cytoskeleton to short time single and periodic stimuli. The experiments used the cellular slime mold (and model organism) Dictyostelium discoideum, which was placed in microfluidic channels and stimulated by fast photolytic release of signal molecules from a biologically inactive precurser. The results were examined in the framework of non-linear dynamics. The work was supervised by Prof. Eberhard Bodenschatz and Prof. Carsten Beta (since late 2007: University of Potsdam, Germany). Methods: Light and laser microscopy techniques, microfluidics, soft lithography, digital image processing, signal processing. |
|
2012 | Dr.rer.nat., Physics Georg August University, Goettingen, Germany. Major Subject: Biophysics. Minor Subjects: Astrophysics, Nonlinear Dynamics. |
2013-2015 | Postdoctoral Researcher Institute for Plant Sciences, University of Graz, Austria. |
Research: The Postdoctoral research (carried out in the group of Prof. Martin Grube) was focused on the network dynamics of plasmodial slime molds. It required the complete setup of a biophysical laboratory from scratch including experimental as well as data analysis software routines. Contrary to Dictyostelium discoideum the plasmodial slime molds are spatially extended organisms which grow at multiple fronts and have no conserved volume over time. Therefore the quantitative description required the definition and extraction of novel measurable quantities, capable of describing the complex system. Methods: Self-made experimental setups for migration and chemotactic assays of plasmodial slime molds, digital image analysis of microbial biofilms, phylogenetic reconstruction. |
|
2015- | Postdoctoral Researcher Max-Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization, Goettingen, Germany. |
Research: During my second stay at the Max-Planck-Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization I focus on biofluiddynamics and quantitative biology, as I describe in more detail in the research section. Methods: Automation of light and laser microscopy, fluorescent bead tracking, droplet based microfluidics. |