Studied Veterinary Medicine in Vienna (graduation 1991); Research fellowships at Biozentrum Würzburg and Complutense University in Madrid (1998-2000). Diplomate of the European College of Veterinary Public Health (2004). Appointed Professor for Molecular Food Microbiology in 2008; Head of the Center for Food Science, Unit Food microbiology. 

Head of the Christian-Doppler Laboratory for Molecularbiological Food Analytics (2006 -2013), Scientific Director of the Austrian Competence Center for Feed and Food Quality, Safety and Innovation since 2017 (www.ffoqsi.at, Collaborative Research Center)
Coordinator COMET Competence-Project Preventive Veterinary Medicine (2010-2013); Scientific Coordinator of EU FP 6 Integrated Project BIOTRACER (2006-2011); Coordinator of EU FP 7 KBBE PROMISE (2012-2014), Coordinator COMET Competence-Project Advanced Dairying in Austria (2014-2017). Coordinator of the Horizon Europe funded project “FoodSafeR” (www.foodsafer.com, 2024-2026).

Main interest in Listeria food interaction, pathogen transmission, microbiome pathogen interaction, disinfection and applied food hygiene. Has published 300 papers in peer reviewed journal and holds eight patents. Has received numerous awards, was shortlisted as Austrian Researcher of the Year 2016.