I am a molecular cell biologist with extensive training in evolutionary bioinformatics and a keen interest in multi-disciplinary team-driven science. My main research interests are the evolutionary origin and mechanisms of chromosome segregation systems in (microbial) eukaryotes. I am particularly focused on kinetochores, small cellular structures that connect the chromosomal DNA to thread-like microtubules emanating from the spindle apparatus during cell division. Using a combination of comparative genomics, high resolution imaging and biochemistry, I aim to elucidate the inner workings and evolutionary history of this crucial part of the cell division machinery in a wide variety of eukaryotic creatures. With the tools and models that I will develop I hope to contribute towards the establishment of cell biology as a comparative and evolutionary discipline, driving not only the functional understanding of eukaryotes in a broader phylogenetic context, but also to uncover the principles of cellular evolution itself.