Chris got trained as a lab technician and worked for Artemis Pharmaceuticals Cologne/ Taconic Biosciences before entering academia. He obtained a BSc and a MSc in Molecular Biology from the University of Applied Science Gelsenkirchen (now Westfälische Hochschule) and performed his Master thesis in the Cell Signalling lab of Prof. Bart Vanhaesebroeck at QMUL London under supervision of Dr. Mariona Graupera, where he became interested in signal transduction and vascular biology. In October 2008 he joined the Lab of Prof. Petra Knaus to work on BMP and TGFβ growth factors, their receptors and context-specific activities, specifically their role in cell migration. Chris completed his PhD end of 2013 honored with “summa cum laude”.

His current aim as senior postdoctoral researcher is to understand the crosstalk of TGFβ/BMPs, the cells extracellular matrix environment and mechanobiology specifically in the endothelium, using advanced light-microscopy and biomaterial interface technologies. He is collaborating with researchers in- and out-side of Germany in the context of the severe lung disease Pulmonary arterial hypertension.

Besides undergraduate teaching at the biochemistry department of FU Berlin, Chris teaches doctoral candidates at (BSRT) Berlin-Brandenburg School for Regenerative Therapies (BSRT, DFG Graduate School 203). He is member of the German Society of Cell Biology (DGZ) and European Vascular Biology Organisation (EVBO) and acts as peer-reviewer and reviewing editor for international scientific journals including Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology.