Katja received a master of science (M.Sc.) in biology, psychology and sociology in 2001; and her doctorate degree (Dr. rer. nat.) in biology in 2004 from the Friedrich Schiller University (FSU) Jena, Germany. She worked as a researcher at the Departments of Anatomy (2000-2001) and Cardiothoracic Surgery (2001-2004).

Katja was a postdoctoral research fellow at the Saban Research Institute at the University of Southern California’s Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (2004-2005).

She was also a postdoctoral research fellow at the David Geffen School of Medicine at University of California Los Angeles UCLA, USA (2005-2008). In 2008 she was appointed as Assistant Research Professor in the Department of Medicine/ Cardiology at UCLA (2008-2009) and is currently an Adjunct Associate Professor.

In January 2010, she became the group leader of the Fraunhofer-Attract Group at the Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology (IGB), Dept. of Cell and Tissue Engineering in Stuttgart, Germany and later accepted the position of Department Head. She was appointed Interim Institute Director of the Fraunhofer IGB, starting in 2016.

Katja accepted her call as Professor of Biomaterials in Regenerative Medicine at the University Hospital Tübingen UKT in 2011. She coordinates the bachelor “Vital Implants” and master “Implantology” modules in the Biomedical Technologies program.