• 2006 Apl. Professor
• 2001 Habilitation, University of Stuttgart: bioinformatics and protein design
• Since 1995 Head of the bioinformatics group at Institute of Technical Biochemistry, University of Stuttgart
• 1994 Research scientist at Institute of Organic Chemistry, University of Stuttgart: Computer aided protein modelling
• 1991-1993 Product Manager at Biostructure S.A., Strasbourg, France: Software for protein modelling
• 1990 Postdoctoral fellow at Max-Planck-Institute of Biology, Tübingen: Improvement of protein simulation methods
• 1987 - 1990 Ph.D. thesis at Max-Planck-Institute of Biology: Computation of structure and dynamics of biological macromolecules
• 1985 - 1986 Diploma thesis at Max-Planck-Institute of Biology: Experimental investigation of a membrane protein by biochemical and biophysical methods
• 1980 - 1987 Study of physics at the universities of Stuttgart and Tübingen

A lecture "Bioinformatics" (4 Doppelstunden Vorlesung + 2 Doppelstunden Übungen) is part of the lecture "Informatik II" for students in their fourth semester. For students in their 5. to 6. semester, two lectures ("Bioinformatik I" and "Bioinformatik II" in the winter and summer term, respectively) introduce biology, chemistry, and informatics students into methods to analyse DNA- and protein sequences, to compare and model protein structure, and to predict and engineer biochemical properties of proteins. It also introduces into algorithms and concepts like dynamics programming, Hidden Markov Models, reconstruction of phylogenetic trees, and molecular mechanics.

A three weeks practical course ("Wahlpflichtpraktikum Bioinformatik I" in the summer term) applies bioinformatics methods like searching sequence databases, multisequence alignment, analyzing motifs and domains, analyzing DNA sequences, visualization of protein structure, prediction of protein structure, docking. The practical course also gives an introduction into Perl programming and SQL. The script and the protocols are accessible.

The two lectures and this practical course constitute the Nebenfach Bioinformatik. In a second practical course ("Wahlpflichtpraktikum Bioinformatik II" in the winter term) more specialized methods are introduced: design of relational database (including XML), molecular mechanics and molecular dynamics, and statistical analysis of complex biological data.

We are developing and applying new methods of modelling the biochemical properties of enzymes like stability, activity, stereoselectivity, and substrate specificity. To understand experimental data and to design enzymes with superior properties, we combine a database approach with molecular docking and molecular dynamics simulations.
Challenging questions are the design of enzymes with improved stereoselectivity (mainly lipases and esterases), long-range effects of mutations in enzymes (we mainly work on metallo- and serine lactamases), and predicting substrate specificity and regioselectivity of large protein families (a/b hydrolases, P450 monooxygenases). Recently we started a synthetic biology project where we develop methods to design stable and active enzymes of 300 and more amino acids.