DISSERTATION

Acknowledgements
For me, the PhD studies were a period of learning – learning about science, about
different cultures, languages and cuisines, about responsibilities, about growing up and making
important decisions.
During this period, many people passed through my life and helped me on my journey,
professionally and privately. The best example for this is my mentor and friend, Prof. Dr.
Wolfgang Schuhmann, who I owe my deepest gratitude for constantly helping me become a
better researcher and a stronger person, encouraging and supporting me in every step of my
path.
Furthermore, I am grateful to Prof. Dr. Axel Rosenhahn, for being interested in my research
and accepting to be my second examiner.
I would like to thank Anna Lauks, who helped me make the first steps in the PhD, during the
initial month of my stay in the group. It was a challenging period, starting from the fact that
she did not speak English nor did I speak German, thus I am grateful for her patience and
willingness to transfer all her experience to me. Also, I would like to thank Dr. Kirill Sliozberg
who helped me throughout the thesis with technical aspects alongside Dr. Thomas Erichsen.
I would like to express special thanks to Bettina Stetzka, for her big help with the
administration, which was not always only work related, and for having patience with my
German. Her constant smile, calmness and physical fitness are very inspirational for me.
Furthermore, I would like to thank all the people who cooperated with me during this period. I
am especially thankful to Dr. Magdalena Gebala, Prof. Dr. Fabio La Mantia and Dr. Arturo
Estrada-Vargas for their help in understanding the fundamentals of electrochemistry and DNA
sensing. I owe my thanks to Bianca Ciui for the work we started on miRNA detection, Dr.
Adrian Ruff for his help in the work with the glucose-oxidase-acridine orange intercalator, Dr.
Ĺubomír Švorc for helping me expand my knowledge about DNA to boron-doped-diamond
electrodes, Dr. Sanaz Pilehvar and Prof. Dr. Karolien De Wael for cooperation in the research
with DNA aptasensors and Vera Eβmann for the help in discovering the field of bipolar
chemistry.