Carsten studied Molecular Biology at the University of Basel. During his Master’s studies, he worked in the group of Christoph Dehio in the Department of Infection Biology, where he established a nanobody expression platform for the characterization of Bartonella effector proteins (Beps) and contributed to elucidating the first complete structure of a Bep. After an internship at Octapharma Biopharmaceuticals (Heidelberg), he began his PhD in 2020 at HIPS in the department of Microbial Natural Products led by Rolf Müller. 

His doctoral research focused on biosynthetic gene clusters responsible for antibacterial secondary metabolites, aiming to elucidate natural product biosynthesis and enable the development of new antibiotics through heterologous expression. Using structure- and activity-guided optimization strategies, he developed and characterized novel derivatives of the Darobactin class through targeted genetic engineering and process optimization.

Currently, Carsten is a postdoctoral researcher in the department of Microbial Natural Products, where he coordinates biotechnological projects and supervises PhD candidates. Within the Darobactin team, he shares responsibility for CRO studies to further advance this antibiotic class. He also contributes to grant applications and supports the strategic development of the IP portfolio.