Marcel studied biology at the University of Giessen, Germany, to obtain his Master's degree with a focus on immunology and genetics in 2015. He did his master thesis at the Institute of Immunology, Giessen, where he investigated the Interleukin-1 receptor signaling complex. After a research internship in the lab of Henning Walczak, Cancer Institute University College London, Marcel joined the group of Ivan Dikic as a Ph.D. student. During his Ph.D., he worked on cytokine signaling pathways and inflammation response and successfully defended in September 2022.