Ralf studied Biochemistry at the University of Bayreuth, Germany, and received his PhD from the University of Zurich, Switzerland, in 2009 for his work on cell cycle regulation and the composition of centromeres and kinetochores in Drosophila melanogaster.

After his PhD, he joined the group of Prof. Dr. Ernst Hafen at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich, Switzerland. In close collaboration with the group of Prof. Dr. Ruedi Aebersold, he identified and validated novel components of the insulin receptor / target of rapamycin (InR/TOR) pathway using mass spectrometric approaches in combination with biochemical assays.

In 2012, Ralf was awarded a Swiss National Foundation (SNF) Fellowship for Prospective Researchers and joined the group of Prof. Dr. Anthony Purcell at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia. During that time, he utilized high-resolution mass spectrometry to study the onset and progression of a variety of clinically relevant diseases known as spondyloarthropathies. Because of his work, Ralf was awarded with a SFGBM (Swiss Foundation for Grants in Biology and Medicine) Fellowship for Advanced Researchers in 2013.

In 2016, Ralf was appointed as the Director of the Monash Biomedical Proteomics Platform to provide mass spectrometric expertise to researchers and the broader community.