Bacterial Networks and Interactions
About
We study the interaction between bacteria and the viruses (phages) infecting them. Our goal is to gain fundamentally new insights into the bacterial immune system and to apply this knowledge for the development of innovative applications in synthetic biology and biotechnology. Furthermore, we are interested in the design and dynamics of complex regulatory networks enabling microorganisms to adapt to ever changing environments and to discriminate between ‘self’ and ‘foreign’. Microbial model hosts used in our laboratory include the biotechnological platform strain Corynebacterium glutamicum and Streptomyces – the source of most of our antibiotics.
Research Topics
Phage-host interaction: We study how phages target key regulatory hubs of the host cell and how bacteria protect themselves against this attack.
Gene regulatory networks: We study the design and architectures of regulatory networks enabling bacteria to respond to environmental stresses and to interact with other microbes.
Evolutionary engineering: We are harnessing the power of evolution for the development of microbial production strains by using synthetic regulatory circuits and transcription factor-based biosensors.
Further links:
Members
News and Highlights | |
|---|---|
January 2023 | Tom publishes a paper in microLife, doi: https://doi.org/10.1093/femsml/uqad002
Aileen successfully defends her PhD - Congratulations! |
November 2022 | Annual Group Retreat Waimés, BE |
October 2022 | The SPP 2330 project “Going-viral 2022”, a phage-hunting experiment for school kids starts! The Annual SPP 2330 Meeting was held in Rösrath https://spp2330.de/news/annual-spp-2330-meeting-2022-2/ |
September 2022 | Aileen publishes a paper in frontiers in Microbiology, doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2022.997448 Aileen wins a poster prize at BacNet22! |
August 2022 | Aël and Larissa publish a review in Trends in Microbiology, doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tim.2022.08.001 |
June 2022 | Sebastian publishes a paper in Viruses, doi: https://doi.org/10.3390/v14071449 Johanna receives a poster prize at the ISBA Meeting. Congratulations! |
April 2022 | Aël successfully defends his PhD. Congratulations! Aël and Larissa publish a paper in mbio, doi: 10.1128/mbio.00783-22 |
February 2022 | Larissa receives a prize for the best short talk at the VAAM 2022 |
January 2022 | Aileen publishes a review in FEMS Microbiology Reviews, doi: https://doi.org/10.1093/femsre/fuac002 |
