1. Personal Resume
This resume is not only a comprehensive overview of my carrier and skills but
also a personal story that conveys the origins of my personal thrive and
motivations.
My story starts when I was eight years old and became hooked to chemistry by
inhering a chemistry set “Der kleine Chemiker” from my six year older brother
Gerhard. Later I promoted at school as best high-school student in chemistry and
was awarded with a prize from the German Research Foundation (Deutsche
Forschungsgemeinschaft).
Immediately after school, I started studying chemistry at the renowned Philipps-
University in Marburg, Germany. After two years, my performance motivated the
university to nominate me as a potential candidate for the elite German National
Academic Foundation (Deutsche Studienstiftung). On the basis of a two-day
evaluation through an assessment centre (> 100 national participants, admission
rate < 10%), the association welcomed me as a permanent member. I like to
emphasize that the admission into the Studienstiftung influenced me personally
in a very positive way with respect to my mindset and future carrier orientation.
Participations in summer seminars dealing with, for example, the Theory of
Innovations, and attendance the German 36th
Nobel Laureate Meeting in
Lindau, allowed me to realize the importance of applied science, and to develop
the awareness of my responsibilities as a scientist.
My fascination for organometallic chemistry induced me to pursue my PhD in
the research group of Prof. Reinhard Hoffmann, where I investigated the
applicability of chiral chalcogen-substituted organolithium species for their
use in stereoselective synthesis. At the time, the research group was one of
the few privileged members of the Graduiertenkolleg Metallorganische Chemie
that was granted by the German Research Foundation with the mission to
facilitate interdisciplinary research. In line with this mission, I integrated know-
how from different research areas into my scientific work and established
close liaisons with for example Prof. Kurt Dehnike on the synthesis of
selenium- and tellurium-based reagents, Prof. Manfred Reetz on the molecular

2. design of twisted crown ethers and intraanular-stabilized carbanions, or with
Prof. Stefan Berger on the development of advanced variable-temperature and
1
H,6
Li-HOESY NMR experiments. The scientific outcome of my PhD work
resulted in six publications, one of them signed as first author in the chemistry
journal Angewandte Chemie (current impact factor > 13).
After receiving my PhD, with the highest obtainable degree and this within a
period of two years and five months, I was offered a fellowship from the
Alexander von Humboldt-Foundation for a postdoctoral position in Prof. Tadshi
Nakata’s research group at the RIKEN Institute in Tokyo, Japan. However, I
accepted instead the offer of a less prestigious postdoctoral fellowship from the
pharmaceutical company Schering AG in Berlin, Germany (today Bayer
HeathCare AG). With this step, I dedicated myself to pursue an industrial rather
than an academic carrier with focus on human health related research. In the
first period of my postdoctoral stay at Schering I developed the stereoselective
syntheses of cyclopropane-annulated steroid derivatives, which were
designed for the treatment of the bone disease osteoporosis. Subsequently, I
was enrolled in the evaluation and exploration of combinatorial chemistry
technologies. Very quickly I developed solid-phase syntheses of chemically
diverse substituted quinolines, and the parallel multi-component synthesis of
1,3-diaryl-propenones. As key result from that period, I would like to highlight not
only the scientific outcome in the form of one patent and two articles (both first
author), but in particular the lasting impact of my pioneering work that gave the
momentum to establish the Department of Combinatorial Chemistry, which
became – and still is – an integral part of Schering’s (today Bayer’s) drug
discovery programs. Shortly afterwards I was designated as European Chemist
by the Association of German Chemists for having proven both, solid
professional competences and in-depth knowledge of chemistry.
At the time my father was diagnosed with Alzheimer disease and one of my very
close friends suffered from schizophrenia. That induced me to follow a job offer
from the Danish pharmaceutical company H. Lundbeck A/S, which gave me the
opportunity to contribute to the search of new therapeutics for such brain
diseases.

3. In the first period as Research Chemist, I was enrolled in the design and
development of suitable technological platforms for high-throughput synthesis.
As part of a technology-transfer project between Lundbeck and the American
company CombiChem Inc. (San Diego, USA), I worked six months as Research
Development Chemist in California on the beta-test of a prototype instrument
for automated parallel synthesis (CombiSyn™). Although the instrument was a
failure – poor design and performance – I turned our collaboration into a big
success. I identified instead a technology for parallel purification that was
currently pioneered at CombiChem. Since my return, the HPCL-purification of
large compound collections by means of mass-controlled fraction collection
became routine and until today it presents one of the core technologies in
Lundbeck’s medicinal chemistry laboratories. Apart from that, I like to emphasize
that gaining hands-on experiences in the technology park in San Diego allowed
me to develop a feeling for practicability and user friendliness as well as a
sane judgement to distinguish meaningful technologies from solely business-
driven ones.
After my return to Lundbeck I played a key role in lead discovery programs and
was responsible for the molecular design and parallel synthesis of large
compound collections that were targeted for biological activity on, for example,
monoaminergic G protein-coupled receptors. Simultaneously, I slipped into the
role of an intrapreneur and developed proprietary technologies that helped to
break down technical bottlenecks in the workflow of parallel synthesis. These
developments implied a broad range of different scientific disciplines including
the synthesis of metal-containing polystyrenes, design and evaluation of
traceless and multifunctional solid-phase linkers, advanced applications of
chalcogen and bismuth chemistry, modification and characterization of
polymers, and formulation of hazardous chemicals through encapsulation
into mesoporous silicates. As key achievements from this period I like to
highlight the development and commercialization of immobilized selenium for
applications in design-driven combinatorial drug discovery (launched in year
2002 by Sigma-Aldrich), and of tablet-encapsulated reagents for the safe,
accurate, and fast dosing of chemicals in high-throughput fashion (ChemDose®,
launched in year 2007 by Sigma-Aldrich and Reaxa Ltd.).

4. In the domain of medicinal chemistry and in the position as Senior Scientist, I
was in charge of a wide range of scientific and managerial tasks including the
supervision of technicians, quality assurance, meeting project deadlines, and
project communicating between biologists, pharmacologists, patent attorneys,
and external collaborators. During that time I created synthetically feasible
strategies for the optimization of lead compounds with respect to biological and
physicochemical properties. Apart from 31 per-reviewed articles (19x first or
corresponding author) and 20 patents (11x first inventor), one of my major
breakthroughs was the development of a targeted and unique synthesis of N-
phenylpiperazine derivatives based on a combination of solid-phase synthesis
with iron-assisted transformations,. This in return gave birth to the discovery of
two antidepressants, namely Brintellix (launched in year 2014) and
Tedatioxetine (currently in clinical phase II). These breakthroughs have
enormously strengthened Lundbeck’s pipeline, and - most importantly – Brintellix
will improve the quality of millions of people’s life who are suffering from major
depression and will also positively impact the work and lives the of their families
and friends.
My work at Lundbeck ended after 14 successful and fulfilling years as a
consequence of a world-wide economical crisis. After the recent death of my
mother and the loss of my job I experienced a personal crisis. Luckily, I managed
to perceive this difficult situation as a fortune opportunity to compile a part of my
scientific work in the form of a Doctoral Dissertation (Doctor of Techniques).
My intention for this ambitious work was not to communicate just science, but
also to visualize the beauty of applied science and to expose yet unreported
serendipitous discoveries and the dealing with experimental setbacks, which
eventually moved science one step further. The outstanding evaluation of my
thesis by the Danish Technical University is the best testimony for having
achieved that mission.
As my interest in dye-sensitized solar cells sparked, I joined in year 2012 the
Institute of Nature, Systems & Models at the University of Roskilde. This
deliberate switch from human health-related research to research on
sustainable energies implied once again a shift of paradigms. Over two years I
devised strategies to enhance the efficiency of dye-sensitized solar cells. Very

5. quickly, and inspired by my background in chemistry, I initiated new research
projects for the engineering of reclaimable solar cells by aid of micro-fluid
technology, targeted surface modifications on immobilized titan dioxide
nanometre-seized particles, and on-particle synthesis of multinuclear
ruthenium dyes. The potential applications of these methodologies in, for
example, photovoltaic-integrated building facades motivated the submission
of three patent proposals, which all received positive patentability opinion based
on the evaluation of external IPR attorneys (Hjerrild & Levin A/S). Very recently, I
am engaged in the investigation of new hydrogel composite materials with
application potential in health and medical care.

6. quickly, and inspired by my background in chemistry, I initiated new research
projects for the engineering of reclaimable solar cells by aid of micro-fluid
technology, targeted surface modifications on immobilized titan dioxide
nanometre-seized particles, and on-particle synthesis of multinuclear
ruthenium dyes. The potential applications of these methodologies in, for
example, photovoltaic-integrated building facades motivated the submission
of three patent proposals, which all received positive patentability opinion based
on the evaluation of external IPR attorneys (Hjerrild & Levin A/S). Very recently, I
am engaged in the investigation of new hydrogel composite materials with
application potential in health and medical care.