I began my undergraduate studies in October 2007 at TU Dortmund University in Germany, pursuing a BSc degree in Chemical Biology. Subsequently, I continued my education at TU Dortmund for my MSc degree. However, during that time, I embarked on a 9-month Erasmus-funded placement at the University of Dundee in Scotland, working in the lab of Daan van Aalten. In Dundee, I dedicated myself to expanding my knowledge in the field of macromolecular x-ray crystallography of proteins and structure-guided inhibitor development.

Inspired by my experience in Dundee, I decided to pursue a Ph.D. in the lab of Daan van Aalten, which I began immediately after obtaining my MSc degree from TU Dortmund. During my Ph.D., I focused on unravelling the role of O-GlcNAcylation in mammals. O-GlcNAcylation refers to the post-translational modification of serine and/or threonine residues of over 1000 nucleocytoplasmic proteins using a single N-acetylglucosamine sugar. Specifically, I aimed to understand how the O-GlcNAc transferase (OGT) recognizes its diverse range of substrates. This knowledge motivated me to develop structure-guided inhibitors capable of reducing OGT's activity.

After my Ph.D., I sought to transition into the field of infection biology and cryogenic electron microscopy. As a result, I joined the lab of Lars-Anders Carlson at Umeå University in May 2018. Although my initial objective was to investigate how alphaviruses replicate their genome, I became involved in a significant side project during the first two to three years in Umeå. Collaborating with colleagues from the Clinical Microbiology department, we solved the structure of human adenovirus F41, a causative agent of diarrhoea and childhood mortality. This breakthrough revealed substantial differences in the viral capsid architecture, shedding light on the virus's ability to recognize and infect specific host cells. In the final two years of my tenure in the Carlson lab, I managed to focus on alphaviruses, studying how the viral capping enzyme's activity increases during the transition from its monomeric to dodecameric state.

From the latter half of 2021 until the entirety of 2022, I dedicated my efforts to securing a group leader position. Finally, in December 2022, I received an offer to lead my own research group at the Department of Molecular Pharmacology at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands. In my lab, we aim to elucidate the mechanisms through which viruses modify mitochondria to facilitate viral replication. Our comprehensive approach combines x-ray crystallography, cryo-EM, and in situ cryo-ET with techniques from biochemistry, cell biology, and virology. The knowledge gained from our studies will contribute to the development of novel antiviral strategies.