The cycle of resources on earth rests on the chemical activity of single-celled microorganisms, called microbes. By concentrating the reactants and enzymes inside their cell walls, microbes carry are able to carry out reactions that are otherwise unheard of but the concentration comes at a cost: active energy is required to maintain a functional cytoplasm and the chemical gradient across the membrane. I am particularly interested in how microbes in marine sediment deal with these challenges, particularly when microbes have only little energy available to them as in the anaerobic oxidization of methane. To this end I am looking into the physiological response to energy starvation, the minimum energy rates to maintain chemical gradients and the evolved stragies of microbes to maintain basic cell organization in bad times.

I am currently a post-doctoral fellow with Victoria Orphan at the California Institute of Technology. Previously, I completed a PhD with Michael Manhart at ETH Zurich and I hold a master in mathematics from the University of Bonn. You can find my CV on this website and my publications on Google Scholar.