As a Kavli Fellow I investigate how specific biophysical and biochemical properties of the surface glycan layer (glycocalyx) enable cells to interact with nanometer-scale structures in biological tissues and biomimetic culture systems.

In this project I developed a GFP complementation assay to study the transport of functional cell-penetrating peptides from the cell surface to the cytosol with the focus on endosomal release.

I also studied the influence of cell surface glycosylation on the uptake of cell-penetrating peptides (CPPs). Next to advanced biochemical approaches, fluorescence correlation spectroscopy, and fluorescence recovery after photobleaching, I also used confocal microscopy, to analyze and visualize contact regions of especially cationic CPPs to negatively charged cell surface glycan moieties.

Furthermore, I studied the impact of CPP binding on the lateral mobility of cell surface glycolipids and glycoproteins using atomic force microscopy and spectroscopy (AFM/AFS) and FRAP technique, which I have optimized for glycan analysis during the last years.

I am involved in the development of Block-codes, a marketplace, I have co-founded, for sharing blockchain tutorials, novel approaches and algorithms to the coding community around the world. Furthermore I am involved in the development of Frapbot, a free-of-charge open source software web application written in R, which provides manual and automated analyses of fluorescence recovery after photobleaching (FRAP) datasets. Both projects are part of the Vaionex Corporation, a young datascience & biotech startup I have co-founded in 2016.

During my PhD project I was able to learn advanced imaging procedures, e.g. confocal microscopy, to visualize cell-matrix interactions and dynamic cell patterning, e.g. during tumor migration and invasion. My responsibilities included the development of a cell culture technique to analyse the influence of glycocalyx components in mediating cell migration and invasion in a 3D environment in vitro and in vivo. Thus, I have a strong background in cell and molecular biology, microscopy, including time-lapse microscopy, confocal microscopy, atomic force microscopy and spectroscopy (AFM/AFS), glycobiology and experience in glycochemistry.