Martina studied biology at the Universities of Bochum and Bielefeld (both Germany). She completed her PhD studies on the development of visual asymmetries in pigeons under the supervision of Prof Dr Dr hc Onur Güntürkün in Konstanz and Bochum and continued to work as a postdoctoral researcher with Prof Dr Dr hc Onur Güntürkün on cerebral asymmetries and with Prof Dr Rolf Heumann on adult neurogenesis in the hippocampus. She obtained her habilitation in cognitive neuroscience in 2007, was acting Professor at the universities of Wuppertal and Hagen and was appointed adjunct professor at the Faculty of Psychology in 2013. Her research deals with the neuronal and functional mechanisms of brain development.