I started my PhD in January 2022. My goal is to use 16S/18S rRNA Next-Generation Sequencing, and metagenomics to deepen our understanding of Amazonia's microbial communities and functional capacities, and (1) to unravel their linkage to the dissolved organic matter and biogenic volatile organic compound pools, and (2) how they differ compared to non-tropical forest ecosystems. Further, I aim to explore effects of (seasonal) drought on these communities, and how it affects the Carbon storage capacity of tropical soils.

Summer 2024     Research Intern (Advisor: Curtis Huttenhower)
                                     –Analysis of metagenomic data using MetaPhlAn4, HUMAnN, and MaAsLin2
                                     – Metagenome assembly & downstream analysis
since 2022            Graduate Researcher (Advisor: Gerd Gleixner)
                                     – DNA/RNA extractions, high-throughput sequencing
                                     – Chloroform fumigation to determine microbial biomass C
                                     – raw read processing and analysis using QIIME2, PICRUSt2 & R
2019–2021          Master thesis, f/u by scientific assistant position (Advisor: Kirsten Küsel)
                                     Manuscript accepted: DOI 10.1093/femsec/fiac156
                                     – cultivation and maintenance of Sideroxydans spp. pure cultures
                                     – HPLC, GC-MS, RT-qPCR
                                     – photometric assays to monitor (hydro)chemical parameters
                                     – Fe/O2 utilization, and microbial growth of Sideroxydans cultures
                                     – development and implementation of an RNA extraction protocol for CL21
                                     – data analysis using QIIME2, R 
2018                         ERASMUS+ internship (Advisor: Friederike Range)
                                     – behavioral observations, and urine/saliva sampling of Canis lupus spp.
                                     – analysis of behavioral and hormonal data, and writing of “mock manuscript”
2016                         Bachelor thesis (Advisor: Stefan Halle)
                                     – whole-mount RNA fluorescence in situ hybridization
                                     – confocal laser scanning microscopy to identify and map olfactory neurons

since 2022         Teaching assistant for annual MSc practical course ‘stable isotope probing’
                                   (Department of Biogeochemical Processes, MPI-BGC, Germany)

Fall 2023             Lecturer for PhD course ‘R: basics of data wrangling and visualization’
                                  (Department of Biogeochemical Processes, MPI-BGC, Germany)

Winter 2019     Teaching assistant for the BSc lecture ‘from molecular diversity to ecosystem
                                   functions’ (Chair for Aquatic Geomicrobiology, FSU Jena, Germany)

Winter 2019     Tutor for the BSc lecture ‘general ecology’
                                   (Institute for Ecology and Evolution, FSU Jena, Germany)

Winter 2016     Tutor for the BSc lecture ‘microbiology’
                                   (Institute of microbiology, FSU Jena, Germany)

Winter 2016     Tutor for the BSc practical course ‘general & molecular botany’
                                   (Institute for molecular botany, FSU Jena, Germany)

2025                      FEMS MICRO Congress Attendance grant
2024                      DAAD Research Internship Stipend (€ 5,129.00)
2021                      Committee Award for Best Lightning Talk (MiCom Conference 2021)
2018                      ERASMUS+ Grant (€ 2,340.00)

2024–2025      Member of the European Geosciences Union (EGU)
2023–2024      Member of the Ecological Society of America (ESA)
2023–2024      Member of the American Geophysical Union (AGU)
2023–2024      PhD representative & steering committee member at the MPI-gBGC
2015                     Organizing committee for the BSc Biology Ball (FSU Jena, Germany)