Markus joined the team of the Rare Disease Translational Center in May 2021 and focuses on rare neurological disorders including alternating hemiplegia of childhood (AHC), KIF1A-associated neurological diseases (KAND), spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).
Markus received his B.S. in Molecular Biology from the Applied University of Gelsenkirchen, Germany while performing his thesis work at the Max-Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics in Berlin, Germany. He then received his M.S. in Medical Biology from the University of Essen, Germany after completing his thesis work at the Jackson Laboratory, USA. Under the mentorship of Dr. Susan L. Ackerman at the University of Maine Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences and Engineering and the University of California San Diego, Markus investigated molecular mechanisms and genes associated with rare patient conditions regulating neurodevelopment and neurodegeneration during his doctoral work in Biomedical Science.