Following her PhD at EMBL, Heidelberg, with Rüdiger Klein from 1994 to 1999, Katja was awarded an HFSP Long-Term Fellowship in 2001 to work with Norbert Perrimon at Harvard Medical School on cell biological aspects of tracheal development in Drosophila. From there she moved to San Francisco to join the UCSF faculty in 2006, where she continued her work on Drosophila development and homeostasis.
We will always remember Katja for her role as host of a memorable HFSP alumni meeting in the Genentech auditorium of UCSF in 2014. Her welcoming nature and openness were inspiring for all attendees, making the meeting personally and scientifically a unique and unforgettable experience.