Born 1965 in Munich. Study of physics TU Munich (1985), diploma in physics (1990), visiting scientist Univ. Urbana-Champaign (1990-1991), doctorate TU Munich (1994), visiting scientist CENG Grenoble (1994), postdoctoral fellow Univ. Munich (1994-1998), EMBO Fellow ETH Zurich, Switzerland (1997), independent research group MPI for Biophysical Chemistry (1998-2003), habilitation in physics Univ. Göttingen  (2002), Associate Professor EPFL Lausanne, Switzerland (2003), Director and Scientific Member at the MPI for Biophysical Chemistry (2003-2021), since 2022 Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences, Honorary Professor for Physics Univ. Göttingen (since 2005).