Since 2002, I am employed at the Leibniz Institute for Zoo & Wildlife Research in Berlin, Germany. My focus is on animal conservation genetics and wildlife forensics. In the 1990s, I started with research on the restoration of sturgeon as well as on methods for sturgeon trade control (e.g. caviar). Both topics are still of great interest for sturgeon conservation. Since 2022, I am the Chair of the IUCN Sturgeon Specialist Group. 

I work as molecular ecologist at the University of Padova, (Italy). I have been working on sturgeon conservation since 1999, conducting research in population genetics, cytogenetics, species and hybrids identification, stock management and support to ex situ conservation programs. I am member of the World Sturgeon Conservation Society board since 2015. I have been serving as Red List Authority since 2017.