Yvonne is an expert in translational R&D in biotech and therapeutic discovery and was successfully building and steering international R&D alliances and industry collaborations with a focus on preclinical-stage gene & cell therapies. As an accomplished Scientist, Yvonne has gained profound experience in translational life sciences and biomedical research with strong background in biochemistry and molecular cell biology, with a special emphasis on epigenetics & gene regulation as well as on viral vector technologies and microbiology. 

Prior to epiQ.bio, Yvonne served as Head of Alliance and Program Management at Sirion Biotech GmbH and Revvity Gene Delivery GmbH supporting viral vector development for gene therapies in strategic partnerships with pharma industry.

Prior to Sirion Biotech, Yvonne was R&D laboratory manager at Electrochaea GmbH, and product manager at heipha GmbH/Merck Life Sciences.

Yvonne holds a diploma degree in Biology from Marburg University and a Ph.D. in Molecular Genetics from Marburg University. She was a postdoctoral researcher with Qiang Zhou at UC Berkeley and with Carol A. Gross at UCSF investigating mechanisms of the HIV life cycle and transcriptional regulation in bacteria. As a postdoc with Alexander Brehm at LMU Munich she investigated the biochemistry of epigenetic chromatin remodeling complexes.