Über mich

I am a biochemist by training and have explored a variety of research themes throughout my academic journey. I studied biology at University of Heidelberg and ETH, first with an interest in ecology which later shifted towards the molecular scale. After my diploma thesis on ribosome biochemistry, I obtained a Ph.D. with Alexandra Trkola at UZH, investigating the HIV envelope glycoprotein trimer and its function during virus entry and evasion of the human antibody response.

Following the Ph.D. I moved towards sustainability-related research and obtained a postdoc position with Frances Arnold at Caltech. Here, I learned about the principles of green chemistry and the power of directed evolution to repurpose proteins for useful, new-to-nature chemical reactions. Next, as a postdoc in Leonid Kruglyak’s lab at UCLA, I followed a longstanding interested in enzymatic plastic degradation and used metabolic and protein engineering towards endowing Pseudomonas putida with the ability to degrade and grow on PET plastic.

After the postdoc I decided not to follow an academic career, but I was still very much enjoying academic research. Thus, after returning to Switzerland, I obtained a position as research scientist in the group of Elisabeth Janssen at Eawag. Here, I worked on the development of new biosensors for cyanotoxin detection, based on a combination of aptamer and CRISPR-Cas technologies. Following the conclusion of this project I transitioned within Eawag to the group of Joaquin Jimenez-Martinez. In my current project, which is a collaborative effort together with the group of Olga Schubert (Umik), we investigate whether microorganisms could prove useful for enhancing geological CO2 storage by inducing carbon biomineralization.

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Projekte

Erforschung der mikrobiellen CO₂-Mineralisierung für eine sichere und dauerhafte Speicherung in tiefen Aquiferen unter extremen Bedingungen.

Sequestrierung von CO2 in tiefen Grundwasserleitern mithilfe von Bakterien

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Publikationen

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