In 2002 I started studying biochemistry at the University of Jena from which I also received my PhD in 2011. During my PhD I was working in the laboratory of Jan Tuckerman, in which I employed genetic mouse models to study the cellular and molecular targets of the deleterious effects of high dose glucocorticoids on bone. In 2012 I moved to Denmark to start my Postdoc in the laboratory of Susanne Mandrup at the University of Southern Denmark. There I delineated the mechanisms of enhancer activation during osteoblast and adipocyte differentiation by profiling enhancer features and transcriptional output at a high temporal resolution. I got thrilled by exploring lineage commitment by the actions of transcriptional networks. In 2018 I became a Research Assistant Professor at the Institute of Clinical Research, University of Southern Denmark, and have been working in the group of Moustapha Kassem to contribute with bioinformatic analysis for ongoing projects and with the goal to establish my own research group. Through joint affiliation with the Department of Endocrinology and Steno Diabetes Center Odense at the University Hospital Odense I was appointed as Assistant Professor in 2019. With the help of a start-up grant from the Lundbeck Foundation (Lundbeck-Fellowship) I built my own independent research group that focuses on cellular heterogeneity of bone cells and transcriptional networks of osteoblast versus adipocyte differentiation.
I thought changing Bratwurst for a Hot dog would only last for two years, but now I have both family and my favorite beer bar here in Odense.
