Bio

My scientific journey began with the question: Where and what is this world we live in? I decided to try to understand the “what” – the tangible elements that we can grasp. This led me to study the mechanisms that counteract genomic instability, one of the main drivers of aging. My interest has now expanded to understand the interplay of neurodegenerative diseases and aging, utilizing cutting-edge screening techniques on cells and the fascinating Turquoise killifish exhibiting accelerated aging.

Education

2009 Dr.rer.nat.: Friedrich Schiller University Jena (Germany)

2003 Master of science (Biophysics): Vilnius University (Lithuania)

2001 Bachelor of science (Physics): Vilnius University (Lithuania)

Experience

2025 - Staff scientist in the group of Dario Riccardo Valenzano (Evolutionary Biology / Microbiome-Host Interactions in Aging) at the Leibniz Institute on Aging - Fritz Lipmann Institute (FLI), Jena, Germany

2023 - 2024 Staff scientist in the group of Alessandro Ori (Aging of Protein Complexes) at the Leibniz Institute on Aging - Fritz Lipmann Institute (FLI), Jena, Germany

2015 - 2023 PostDoc and since 2017 staff scientist in the group of Zhao-Qi Wang (Genomic stability) at the Leibniz Institute on Aging - Fritz Lipmann Institute (FLI), Jena, Germany

2010 – 2015 PostDoc in the group of Pierre Olivier Frappart at the CCU Neuropathology (Andreas von Deimling) at German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Heidelberg, Germany. With 2 year fellowship from “Peter und Traudl Engelhorn Stiftung zur förderung der Biotechnologie und Gentechnik”

2009 – 2010 PostDoc at the Institute of Cell Biology (Pierre Olivier Frappart) at the Universitätsklinikum Jena, Germany

2003 – 2009 PhD thesis in the group of Karl Otto Greulich (Single cell and single molecule technique) at the Institute for Molecular Biotechnology (IMB) from 2005 as Leibniz Institute on Aging - Fritz Lipmann Institute (FLI), Jena, Germany