Curriculum vitae

The Gram-positive bacterium Listeria (L.) monocytogenes is one of the most concerning human foodborne pathogens as it is the causative agent of listeriosis, a rare but severe disease associated with high mortality. L. monocytogenes is able to survive a variety of stress conditions leading to the colonization of different niches as the food, the food processing environment and the host. There is evidence for a high variability of prevalence, virulence, pathogenicity and stress response of different L. monocytogenes strains.

Our main research questions are:

• Why are specific clonal complexes predominant in certain niches like the food processing environment?
• What is the role of hypervariable genetic hotspots in the stress response and virulence of L. monocytogenes?
• What is the effect of the environment as the food matrix on the pathogenicity of L. monocytogenes?
• What is the effect of toxin/antitoxin systems on bacterial competition and virulence?
• What is the role of farm animals e.g. pigs in L. monocytogenes epidemiology

To understand the mechanisms involved in stress response, adaptation and virulence we perform genome, transcriptome and proteome analyses, genetic manipulation of strains and in vitro and in vivo infection assays.

Biofilms are microorganisms embedded in a protective self-produced matrix, adhering to a surface. Biofilms are responsible for a number of problems in food production since they can include spoilage agents and food-associated pathogens such as Listeria. If food comes into contact with these biofilms, contamination may occur. We aim to understand and characterize biofilms in the food producing environment and to mimic biofilms in mono- and multispecies models.

Antibiotic resistance and the low number of antibiotics in the discovery pipeline are an emerging problem of public health. It is essential to develop innovative approaches to discover novel antibiotics and bioactive compounds. Genome sequencing of fungi revealed that the number of genes involved in biosynthesis of secondary metabolites is greater than the number of known compounds including potential novel antimicrobial compounds, which are not produced under standard laboratory conditions. We aim to discover novel bioactive compounds including antimicrobial compounds and resistance inhibitors from fungi using e.g. small chemicals, potential epigenetic modifiers