In March 2001 he joined the Soft Matter Department with Prof. Dr. J.K.G. Dhont.
After an education to laboratory chemist (analytical chemistry) he went to the University Utrecht to study chemistry. He obtained his PhD-degree in October 1994 in the group of Prof. Dr. H.N.W. Lekkerkerker at the Van 't Hoff Laboratory for physical and colloidal chemistry of the University Utrecht, for his thesis: "Colloidal dispersions of sterically stabilized boehmite rods - Particle clustering, light scattering, phase separation and sedimentation". Then he moved to Berlin as a post-doc, joining the group of Prof. Dr. M. Antonietti at the Max-Planck-Institut für Kolloid- und Grenzflächenforschung, where he worked on the rheology and phase behaviour of diblock-copolymer solutions. Thereafter he worked with Prof. Dr. J. Springer at the Technical University Berlin on two different projects. First he worked on the time-dependent shear-thickening (rheopexy or negative thixotropy) of polymer solutions. Then he started on a project in cooperation with the Schering AG dealing with the physical chemical analysis of dendrimeric contrast agents to be used in x-ray diagnostics of blood vessels. In January 1999 he started as an all-round chemist at the Gela Vertriebsgesellschaft m.b.H., a small company producing textile auxiliaries and vulcanization dispersions for the latex vulcanization. In February 2001 he left the Gela to start at the Forschungszentrum Jülich.