Education:
04/2021 – current Group Leader at Fraunhofer Institute for Molecular Biology and Applied Ecology; Gießen
Head of Animal Venomics Research Group in FhG IME-BR section “Biodiversity Research”
09/2018 – current Affiliated Researcher at LOEWE Centre for Translational Biodiversity Genomics, Frankfurt
09/2018 – 03/2021 PhD Student at Fraunhofer Institute for Molecular Biology and Applied Ecology; Gießen
Thesis:”How the integration of phylogenetics and Venomics resolves persistent challenges in evolutionary systematics and toxinology – lessons from the spider kingdom” (summa cum laude) Supervision: Prof. Dr. A. Vilcinskas, Co-supervision: Dr. S. Lemke and Dr. habil. B.M. von Reumont.
04/2016 – 08/2018 Student at Technical University of Braunschweig (Master); Braunschweig
Specialisation: Biochemistry, Bioinformatics and Genetics
Thesis:”Biochemical analyses of salamander chemical defense: Characterization of novel toxins and survey of the Salamandra skin poison proteome” (1,0 – very good) Supervision: Prof. Dr. M. Vences and Prof. Dr. S. Steinfartz.
10/2012 – 04/2016 Student at Technical University of Braunschweig (Bachelor); Braunschweig
Specialisation subjects: Animal morphology, Biochemical ecology
Thesis:“Analysen von Salamander-Alkaloiden durch Gaschromatographie: Methodenentwicklung, Biosynthese, Metabolismus und Variabilität” (1,0 – very good) Supervision: Prof. Dr. M. Vences and Prof. Dr. S. Steinfartz.
08/2008 – 09/2012 Lab Technician at Heubach GmbH; Langelsheim
Specialisation: Instrumental analytics, organic synthesis and process engineering
07/2008 Abitur at Robert Bosch Gesamtschule; Hildesheim
Specialisation: Biology, Chemistry and History
Competitive funding and grants:
Young researcher grant of the DeArGe 2018 (1800€), Travel Grant of the German Embassy in Ecuador (Quito) 2019 (1500€), Travel Grant of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) 2019 (2600€), Fraunhofer Publication Fonds (1600€).
Scientific Awards:
Dissertation prize for the best doctoral Thesis of the Justus-Liebig-University Gießen 2021
Board memberships:
Second chairman of the German Arachnological Society (since 2019); Substitute management committee member for Germany in the EU COST action “European Venom Network – EUVEN” (2020 & 2021); Steering committee member of the LOEWE Centre for Translational Biodiversity Genomics (since 2021).
Service as an editor:
Associate editor at Physiological Entomology (since 2021), Review editor at Frontiers in Pharmacology (since 2021).
Service as a reviewer:
Diversity, International Journal of Environmental Science and Public Health, Scientific Reports, Salamandra, Toxins (reviewer board member since 2021), Toxicon, Toxicon:X, Toxin Reviews.
Participation on symposia and congresses:
GfG summer meeting 2016 – Adaption in nature – from ecology to genomes (Braunschweig, 2016); Spring meeting 2018 of the ZAG Wirbellose (Halle, 2018); Arachnoweekend 2018 of the DeArGe (Hessisch Lichtenau, 2018); Deutscher Herpetologentag 2018 of the DGHT (Magdeburg, 2018); INSECTA 2018 (Gießen, 2018); Recombinant Protein Production 10 of the European Federation of Biotechnology (Hersonissos, Greece 2019); 2nd Congresso Latinoamericano de Biogeografia and Humboldt 250 Conference (Quito, Ecuador 2019); 2019 World Congress of the International Society on Toxinology (Buenos Aires, Argentina 2019), Bioengineering of Toxins 2019 of the SFET (Paris, France 2019); Peptide Therapeutics Forum 2020 of the Swiss Chemical Society (Covid19 caused online conference, 2020); Arachnoweekend 2021 of the DeArGe (Covid19 caused online conference, 2021); Ento21 conference of the Royal Entomological Society (Covid19 caused online conference, 2021); International Toxin Talks 2021 (Covid19 caused online conference, 2021).
Memberships in scientific associations:
Society of Systematic Biologists (SSB); Deutsche Arachnologische Gesellschaft/ German Society for Arachnology (DeArGe), International Society on Toxinology (IST); French Society of Toxinology (SFET); European Federation of Biotechnology, German Society for Herpetology and Herpetoculture (DGHT).