Martin Klapper and Franziska Klapper

Martin Klapper is a postdoc in the Department of Palaeobiotechnology at the Leibniz-HKI. His wife Franziska Klapper is a postdoc in the institute’s Transfer Group Antiinfectives.

What are you doing here at the Leibniz-HKI?

Martin: I am a postdoc in Pierre Stallforth’s Department of Palaeobiotechnology. I coordinate the Paleobiotech project and I am the interface between the bioinformatic work and the laboratory work. I lead genetic engineering projects, am responsible for safety and focus on the analysis of biosynthetic gene clusters from archaeological samples. The goal is to introduce these sequences into modern hosts to produce natural products.

Franziska: I started as a postdoc in the Transfer Group Antiinfectives last year after completing my PhD. I am employed as a bio-analytical chemist, work on many projects and mainly do pharmacokinetics. I am currently involved in the analysis of the tuberculosis drug BTZ-043 and work with mass spectrometry and also take care of equipment maintenance.

“My research focuses on the analysis of biosynthetic gene clusters from prehistoric microbiomes, such as 100,000-year-old dental calculus.” (Martin)

“As a bio-analytical chemist, I do the analysis for drug development projects, particularly in the field of pharmacokinetics. This involves quantification and metabolite identification by high resolution mass spectrometry as well as the maintenance of the instruments.” (Franziska)

What brought you to chemistry and biochemistry?

Martin: My interest began back in my school days at the Carl Zeiss Secondary School in Jena, where I specialized in science. I attended extra chemistry lessons there, took the advanced course, worked on experiments and took part in an international chemistry competition. All of this led me to study chemistry. I then came to Pierre through my master’s thesis – I was, so to speak, his first employee and helped him unpack his boxes back in 2014.

Franziska: I didn’t actually plan to study chemistry, just because my parents are chemists. But then I thought: why not? I enjoyed it, was good at it and chemistry is a broad field with many possibilities. I studied general chemistry for my bachelor’s degree and then chemical biology for my master’s. Originally, I had also considered architecture or mathematics, but in the end I settled on chemistry.

You have both gained experience abroad. How did that come about?

Martin: I did an exchange semester in Vancouver to learn English and get to know international research. I thought I would be able to experience a lot of nature there, but I didn’t expect the distances to be so great, so I actually hardly got out of the city. (laughs)

Franziska: I did two internships through IAESTE (International Association for the Exchange of Students for Technical Experience). I wanted to go to an English-speaking country because it was important to me to understand the language, so I chose multilingual India and later Ghana. Also because I really wanted to see different cultures and the science there. In India, I was at Manipal University, a renowned private university on the southwest coast. In Ghana, I worked for an environmental consultancy company that conducted soil quality research. The capital Accra has a huge e-waste dump, which was quite alarming. When you see something like that, you think twice about what you throw away or buy new. That creates a different awareness of waste.

What fascinates you about your research? What are your goals?

Martin: So far, I have found many very small molecules. My goal with the new studies is to also identify more complex molecules with good bioactivities. Together with the robotics team, we are currently developing a workflow with higher throughput to find new compounds faster.

Franziska: My goal at the moment is to further develop my analytical skills and apply them in different projects for different groups.

You have two small children. How do you manage to balance science and family life?

Martin: It’s helpful that we can work flexibly. If we have an appointment with the children, we can coordinate it well. We both work part-time. I'm very grateful to my boss that this is possible.

Franziska: You often hear that it’s not a problem to pursue a career with children these days. It’s definitely doable, but you have to be well organized and often make compromises. Our direct contacts at the Leibniz-HKI are helping us. But what I would still like to see is a parent-child room, which is often available at other universities or institutes.

Children have a lot of questions. How do you explain the world to them?

Martin: I haven’t yet explained my research to the children directly. But when brushing the childrens’ teeth, for example, I sometimes list the types of bacteria that I am currently studying in oral microbiomes. These are the little critters that come and eat the teeth. You have to brush them away! That makes it more tangible than dry laboratory work. But you also have to be prepared to explain everything ten times. (laughs)

Franziska: I explain a lot to the children, but in simplified terms. For example, I don’t say that dinosaurs became extinct because of a meteorite impact, but that ‘a big rock fell from the sky’. I keep it very simple, without technical terms. That’s often not so easy when you work here all day. (laughs)

Apart from the children and work, what brings you together?

Martin: We both juggle with fire, even if it is very rare at the moment due to a lack of time. I started this through my sister’s boyfriend at the time. First with one tool, then with several. Over time, I added more and more tricks.

Franziska: I discovered juggling through university sports. Martin and I met in a juggling class and realized that we both had the same hobby – and that we were both studying chemical biology. That’s how we met. It was not through work.

“Martin and I met in a juggling class and realized that we both had the same hobby – and that we were both studying chemical biology. That’s how we met. It was not through work.” (Franziska)

Do you have any shared goals as a family?

Martin: Our next big goal is to move into our new house and make it our own. And to slow down a bit so that we can focus on each other and our hobbies again. For example, we have a community garden...

Franziska: ... Exactly! With everything that grows and thrives in it – or doesn’t. (laughs) We recently bought the house and now it’s our hobby for the time being. We’re becoming construction workers, so to speak, for half the time. I also train children in circus arts and give acrobatics classes there at least once a week. That’s a great way to get out of the daily grind. That is important, too.