About me
I am Full Professor of Molecular Cell Biology at the Faculty of Biology of the Johannes Gutenberg University (JGU) Mainz and Adjunct Director at the Institute of Molecular Biology (IMB) Mainz.
My research focuses on the molecular mechanisms of neurodegeneration, in particular the molecular events that cause RNA-binding protein pathology in diseases, such as ALS and FTD. I have been fascinated by this topic since 2007.
Before, I studied Biochemistry in Tübingen and obtained a Ph.D. in Cell Biology/Immunology from the Rockefeller University, New York, studying the role of the autophagy in viral antigen presentation.
During my postdoctoral work with Christian Haass at LMU Munich from 2007 - 2013, I discovered that nuclear transport defects and the formation of stress granules are two key hits in the pathological cascade leading to RNA-binding protein pathology in disease.
From 2014 – 2021, I headed an independent Emmy Noether research group at the BioMedical Center in Munich.
In 2021 I joined JGU and IMB Mainz with a Heisenberg Professorship. I have been awarded the Heinz Maier-Leibnitz Award (2014), the Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstädter Award for Young Researchers (2019), the Alzheimer’s Research Award of the Hans and Ilse Breuer Foundation (2021) and an ERC Consolidator grant (2024 – 2029).
Outside the lab, I love running, hiking and spending time with my family.