Hi, I’m Stephan – an evolutionary biologist and bioinformatics scientist based in Vienna. I specialize in phylogenomics, comparative genomics, and AI-driven biology. My work bridges evolutionary insights and big data, from protein structures to genome evolution, mostly using Python, R, and modern workflow tools.
- Current: Scientific Computing Specialist @ AITHYRA (Austrian Academy of Sciences)
- Pet project: @stephkoest/witchi – efficient detection and pruning of compositional bias in phylogenomic alignments.
- Past life: Postdoc @ Wageningen University (NL), hunting eukaryotic ghosts in Asgard archaeal genomes. PhD @ University of Vienna, convincing people that Chlamydiae are not only interesting from a medical standpoint.
- Background: Biologist by training, coder by necessity.
- Interests: Structure-based protein discovery, the tree of life, functional genomics, and making sense of biological complexity with code and curiosity.
- Fun fact: Either chasing hypertrophy or divine orbs in PoE2.
- Connect:
LinkedIn · Bluesky · GitHub
"Yeah, but can it be done anyways?"