1990-1996 Study of biology: University of Erlangen; 1996-2000 PhD: Max-Planck Institute of Developmental Biology Tübingen; 2000-2004 Postdoctoral research associate: Stanford University School of Medicine / Howard Hughes Medical Institute, USA; 2004-2007 Research group leader at the Chair of Genetics , University of Bayreuth 2007-2015 Research group leader at the Institute of Molecular Biology, Zurich, Switzerland; 2015 - Professor for "Morphogenesis Tubular Organs" at WWU Münster / Cluster of Excellence "Cells in Motion" (CiM)
Cellular and molecular mechanisms of morphogenesis in epithelia; Dynamics of intracellular membrane and protein transport; Structure and function of epithelial barriers