Webpage under construction

About me

I am a researcher in the Plitzko CryoEM Technology Research Group at the MPI of Biochemistry in a shared project with the Beck Department for Molecular Sociology at the MPI of Biophysics working cryo-FIB development for in situ structural biology. The aim is to enable structural biology in cells and tissues including prominent developmental biology model systems such as D. melanogaster egg chamber, A. thaliana root tips, and C. elegans larvae. Biologically, I am very interested in nuclear pore complex structure and function for nucleocytoplasmic transport of large macromolecular complexes and their differences across cell types, as well as protein complexes involved in membrane remodelling such as VIPP1.

Structural Developmental Biology

By deploying and improving the techniques and workflows available in cryo-focused ion beam and cryo-lift-out, we have been pushing cryo-ET into multicellular organisms and tissues. This involved developing cryo-FIB methods such as redeposition and fluorescence targeting towards enabling the possibility to answer novel biological questions that require the molecular resolution of cryo-ET as well as to use the lift-out technique as an exploratory tool in biology. Recent advances in lift-out methodology in a collaborative work with Oda Schioetz and Christoph Kaiser represents a coming-of-age of cryo-lift-out exploiting improved hardware stability with the methodological lessons learnt on cryogenic micromanipulation and, especially, FIB-based redeposition attachments.

Modular FIB automation across microscope vendors

I have been developing and maintaining the software package SerialFIB, a modular plaftform for automated cryo-FIB sample preparation, first presented in a paper in collaboration with Herman Fung and Sara Goetz in the lab of Julia Mahamid at EMBL Heidelberg. The software is currently available for Thermo Fisher Scientific small dual beam instruments (e.g. Scios, Quanta, Aquilos 1 and 2) and newer generation PFIBs (Hydra, Arctis) as well as Zeiss CrossBeam instruments (e.g. 550). Drivers for TESCAN instruments are currently in development. Additionally, I have been starting to deploy machine learning algorithms to allow for a fully automated sample preparation workflow exploiting the potential of sample exchange hardware (AutoLoader) introduced to the next generation of cryo-PFIB instruments.