Genetics of Prokaryotes

• 1986, June 10th, Abitur, Nicolaus-Cusanus-Gymnasium, Bergisch Gladbach, Germany
• 1986 - 1993, Biology, University of Cologne, Germany
• 1993, June 15th Diplom (~MSc), Experimental Diploma Thesis on 'Analysis of the Mechanism of Somatic Hypermutation of Mouse Immunoglobulin Genes' in the group of Klaus Rajewsky (now in Harvard) at the Institute of Genetics, University of Cologne, Germany,
• 1994 - 1997, PhD thesis work, Experimental PhD Thesis in the group of Bernd Eikmanns (now in Ulm) at the Institute of Biotechnology 1 (directed by Hermann Sahm), Research Center Juelich, Germany
• 1997, June 23rd, Dr. rer. nat (~PhD), 'Physiological and NMR-Spectroscopic Analyses of the in vivo Activities of Central Metabolic Pathways in wild-type and recombinant Corynebacterium glutamicum Strains', summa cum laude, Heinrich-Heine-University Duesseldorf, Germany

Experience

• 1997 - 1999, Postdoc, Research project funded by the German Science Foundation DFG and by UC Berkeley in the group of Sydney Kustu at the University of California, Berkeley, California, USA
• 1999 - 2005, Research Scientist, Head of the lab Genome-wide expression analysis using DNA microarrays at the Institute of Biotechnology 1, Research Center Juelich, Germany
• 2004, June 24th, Habilitation, 'Characterization of Global Regulatory Mechanisms in Escherichia coli and Corynebacterium glutamicum using DNA microarrays', Heinrich-Heine-University Duesseldorf, Germany
• 2004, July 20th, venia legendi in Microbiology, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Heinrich-Heine-University Duesseldorf, Germany
• 2006 - 2009, Professor for Metabolic Engineering, Institute of Molecular Microbiology and Biotechnology, Westfalian Wilhelms University Muenster, Germany
• 2008 - 2009, Vice Dean (Finance), Department of Biology, Westfalian Wilhelms University Muenster, Germany
• 2011 - 2017, Vice Chair for Research of the CLIB²⁰²¹ Graduate Cluster, Düsseldorf, Dortmund & Bielefeld
• 2011 - 2014, Coordinator of the BMBF collaborative research network Genome reduction
• 2014 - 2018, Member of the Senate of Bielefeld University
• 2014 - 2016, Vice Dean, Department of Biology, Bielefeld University
• 2016 - 2018, Dean of the Department of Biology, Bielefeld University
• 2018-2022 Coordinator of the ERDF-NRW funded CLIB-Competence Centre Biotechnology (CKB)
• 2019, May 2nd, Distinguished Scientist Award of the International Bioprocessing Association - An International Forum on Industrial Bioprocesses
• 2019, July 5th, Schwarzbich Inventor Award together with Dr. Nadja Henke and Dr. Petra Peters-Wendisch

current positions

• since 2009 Professor and Chair of Genetics of Prokaryotes (Bio 6), Faculty of Biology, Bielefeld University, Germany
• since 2010 Member of the Executive Board of Center for Biotechnology (CeBiTec), Bielefeld University
• since 2011 Member of the Extended Board of Cluster of Industrial Biotechnology CLIB, Düsseldorf
• since 2015 Speaker of the Research Area: Metabolic Engineering of Unicellular Systems for Bioproduction of CeBiTec, Bielefeld University
• since 2019 Deputy Scientific Director of CeBiTec, Bielefeld University
• since 2023 Vice Chairman of Cluster of Industrial Biotechnology CLIB, Düsseldorf