Michael obtained his biotechnology undergraduate degree at the Brandenburgische-Technische Universität Cottbus-Senftenberg (BTU) in Senftenberg, Germany. In his last year before graduation, he completed two research internships at UNL, Lincoln, NE and Tohoku University in Sendai, Japan. To pursue further education, Michael then entered UNL as a Ph.D. student under Dr. Richard Wilson where he works on the rice blast fungus, Magnaporthe oryzae. His main research focus lies in redox dynamics of the pathogen during infection to further our knowledge about the underpinnings of infection and potentially aid in the development of means to manage this devastating disease.