Paulina obtained her Bachelor's degree in Biochemistry at the University of Frankfurt while doing her Bachelor's thesis at the Paul-Ehrlich-Institut. There, she investigating the biophysics of thrombocyte membrane curvature upon binding of coagulation factors in Dr. Gerrit Praefckes lab. During her Biochemistry Master's studies she joined the lab of Prof. Daniel Fletcher at UC Berkeley as an intern working on biophysics applied to immune cell - target interfaces. After returning to University of Frankfurt, she joined the Dikic lab in November 2019 pursuing her Master's thesis by the investigation of the influence of Ubiquitin phosphorylation on ER Calcium levels during Legionella infection.