I started studying molecular biology at the University of Heidelberg after I had been fascinated with this subject in school and I wanted to become a scientist. During my Bachelors and Masters degree in Heidelberg I tried to gain as much hands-on expertise in labs as possible with projects in Heidelberg, Cambridge as well as in the US. I then pursued a PhD in Epigenetics at the University of Cambridge and studied jumping genes or transposable elements. I was fascinated with the fact that we commonly believe that genetic information in every cell of our body is the same which is only true for protein-coding genes, which make up 2% of the genome. In fact, 50% of the genome is comprised of transposable elements which can change their genomic position. Due to such mobility, transposable elements can cause genetic diseases and cancer. Since 1 year I am a postdoctoral scientist at same University but in another laboratory studying the role of transposable elements in early mammalian development.

In a video conferencing call...

...I am happy to talk about my research.

...I can show live experiments or equipment, e.g. Demonstrate DNA and RNA extraction, do sequencing of RNA and DNA using Nanopore

...I am happy to answer questions about university and career-related questions.

...I am happy to moderate a discussion.

...I am happy to speak to others (e.g. to journalists, museums).