PhD Student
National Institutes of Health & University of Regensburg
Franziska Ahrend is a bioinformatician with a strong background in both computer science and molecular biology. Ahrend is currently a PhD candidate in Bioinformatics at the National Institutes of Health (NIH-NIDDK, Haase Lab) in Bethesda, MD, and the University of Regensburg, Germany (Meister Lab). Her research focuses on germ cell development, specifically PIWI-interacting RNAs (piRNAs) and genome stability in various mammalian species, including humans. She co-developed the R package PICB for piRNA cluster prediction and annotation, which she maintains on Bioconductor. Ahrend's educational background includes a Master of Science in Computer Science and a Bachelor of Science in Molecular Biology.