I am currently conducting my PhD here at FABI with Prof. Bernard Slippers as my main supervisor.

I am highly interested in fungal diversity studies and the use of advanced molecular techniques to study fungal evolution. Back home in Germany I completed my bachelors and masters degree at the Technische Universität Braunschweig (Technical University of Brunswick). While my three-month bachelors thesis I got an insight into the pathosystem Hymenoscyphus fraxineus (former Chalara fraxinea) and Fraxinus excelsior which is causing the current ash dieback in Europe. To accomplish my masters thesis I moved to Uppsala and worked within the Department of Forest Mycology and Plant Pathology at the Swedish University for Agricultural Sciences. My thesis title:"Validation of the visual assessment of Heterobasidion annosum s.l. and Phlebiopsis gigantea colonization of Picea abies stumps by real-time PCR". I was able to develop a stable method to quantify DNA of the pathogen and the biocontrol agent of a major disease in Scandinavian forestry. Within my PhD project I pursue a broader approach by understanding fungal community interactions in Eucalyptus using ecological genomics and functional transcriptome analysis.

Getting started with R

• Forestry and Agricultural Biotechnology Insititute (FABI), University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa
• May 2016
• Instructor: Jeff Garnas

Beginner phylogenetic workshop

• Inqaba Biotechnical Industries (Pty) Ltd, Pretoria, South Africa
• August 2016
• Instructor: Jane Wright

Advanced phylogenetic workshop

• Forestry and Agricultural Biotechnology Insititute (FABI), University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa
• November 2016
• Instructors: Martin Coetzee, Jane Wright

Metagenomics and metatranscriptomics workshop

• Forestry and Agricultural Biotechnology Insititute (FABI), University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa
• October 2018
• Instructors: Maria Vivas, Martin Kemler, Richard Allen White III

Metagenomics training course "From structure to function: Ecology of microbial communities"

• Forestry and Agricultural Biotechnology Insititute (FABI) University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa
• June 2019
• Instructors: Matías Irazoqi, Ariel Amadío, Surendra Vikram, Annie Chan, Rian Pierneef

Fungal community composition associated with leaves of a Eucalyptus grandis half-sib population

• Conference Southern African Society for Plant Pathology (SASPP)
• January 2019
• Langebaan, South Africa

Microbiomes and tree health

• TPCP annual symposium
• May 2019
• Future Africa, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa