I am a bioinformatician and AI researcher working on generative models of biological sequences and on the quality and safety of the data those models learn from. With my group at the Department of Dermatology I develop machine learning methods for automated quality control and integration of functional NGS and multi-omics data, and generative models of biosequences (DNA, proteins, lipids) that work towards a safe-by-design European genomics foundation model. A second strand of my work covers the evaluation and governance of biological AI, including interpretability, benchmarks and risk assessment for generative sequence design.

Positions held

From 2027
IQCB Scientist, Institute for Quantitative and Computational Biosciences, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz

Since 2026
Independent Junior Group Leader, Bioinformatics and Genomics, Department of Dermatology, University Medical Center Mainz

2025 to 2026
Lead Bioinformatician and Junior Group Lead, Mayer Lab, Department of Dermatology, University Medical Center Mainz. Funded by the ReALity Initiative, State of Rhineland-Palatinate

2024
Senior Researcher, German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI), Kaiserslautern

2023 to 2024
Postdoctoral Researcher, CBDM Group, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz

2020 to 2023
Research Associate and PhD Student, CBDM Group, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz

Since 2023
Project Lead and Contributor, OpenBioML. Maintainer of the DNA-LLM group on Hugging Face

2017 to 2020
Research Assistant, Center for Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine, University Medical Center Mainz

Ongoing
Scientific Advisor, DeoxyTech Ltd., Manchester, United Kingdom

Education

2020 to 2024
Dr. rer. nat. in Bioinformatics, summa cum laude, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz. Thesis: Identification and exploration of quality-related characteristics in multi-omics data using machine learning

2016 to 2020
M.Sc. Applied Bioinformatics, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz

2013 to 2016
B.Sc. Biology, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz

Awards

2025
International Einstein Early Career Researcher Award, Einstein Foundation

2025
Boehringer Ingelheim Dissertation Award