Center for PFAS Research

Born in the south of Germany, my interest in biochemistry was sparked while visiting the University of Tübingen during a school trip. I received my B.Sc. in Biochemistry from the Unversity of Bayreuth and my M.Sc. in Life and Medical Sciences from the University of Bonn. For my Master and PhD thesis I joined the sperm physiology group at caesar and under the supervision of Drs. Dagmar Wachten and Timo Strünker I studied the signaling pathway evoked by zona pellucidae proteins in mouse and human sperm. In 2017 I moved to NYC to study the changes in metabolism during mouse and human sperm capacitation in the lab of Drs. Lonny Levin and Jochen Buck in the Department of Pharmacology at Weill Cornell Medicine. Catalyzed by an accidental discovery I also provided the in vivo proof-of-concept that a sAC inhibitor can be utilized as non-hormonal, on-demand contraception for individuals who produce sperm. My lab at MSU utilizing metabolic profiling and stable isotope labeling analysis, Ca2+ fluorimetry, sperm motility assays and other capacitation read-outs to further understand how mammalian sperm and sperm from other vertebrates generate sufficient energy to reach the oocyte and how these metabolic adaptations are regulated.

My lab is focused on reproduction biology, metabolism and cell signaling.