Dr Melanie Krause is a Volunteer Writer at BioNews having originally joined the publication under the auspices of its writing scheme. She obtained a PhD in Cell Biology of Infection from University College London studying vaccinia virus interactions with host cells for her PhD with Dr Jason Mercer at the Medical Research Council Laboratory for Molecular Cell Biology. Following her PhD, she is now a postdoctoral fellow at the European Molecular Biology Labatory in Heidelberg, Germany where she works in the field of genome editing in the lab of Professor Lars Steinmetz. She aims to improve genome editing techniques for protein tagging as well as developing novel read-outs for diverse cellular phenotypes. In her spare time, she is an advocate for science education and sustainability in research.