Minerals. Microbes. Evolution.
How can terrestrial planets, including Earth, nurture microbial life?
My research focuses on natural catalysis at the mineral-microbe interface. I am asking both fundamental and application-oriented questions and my research approach is integrative, combining field work with lab experiments and system models from collaborators.
About me
I am a NASA Postdoctoral Fellow working in the Department of Earth System Science at Stanford University. I currently study methanogens that use mineral-derived hydrogen or diverse organic substrates in a deep hypersaline anoxic basin and transient lakes. I am an expert in anaerobic microbial processes and their interconnection with the non-living, abiotic environment. My research interests span across various natural systems, from the tropics to the poles, and into deep time, including the Archean Earth.
Teaching and mentoring students, especially in the lab setting, has always been a great source of inspiration for me. I am particularly eager to support high school and community college students of diverse backgrounds to find career paths into the geo and life sciences.
After graduating from high school (Gymnasium) in Bammental, Germany, I completed my undergraduate degree in Geoecology at the University of Tuebingen. I then moved to Tempe, Arizona, for my Ph.D. in Environmental Life Sciences at Arizona State University before joining Stanford as a postdoc.
last updated 10/16/2023
An insight to my field adventures.
Learn about the concepts underlying my research.
Publications
Spotlight on one of my recent articles.
The trace metal tungsten is rare in extant organisms. With similar physical properties, molybdenum is the preferred metal in enzymes serving diverse functions. In this paper, we describe a thermophile that obligately uses tungsten and not molybdenum.
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