Georg-August-Universität Göttingen Institut für Mikrobiologie und Genetik

Major Research Interests:

The major focus of the laboratory is on the control of developmental programs, protein turnover, pathogenicity and the interplay between development and primary and secondary metabolism. Our models are eukaryotic microorganisms (yeasts and filamentous fungi): (i) We are interested how light coordinates fungal development with fungal secondary metabolism and toxin production. (ii) Nedd8 is a ubiquitin-like protein which is involved in the control of protein turnover. We study the Nedd8-system including the COP9 signalosome using fungi as model systems. (iii) We are interested in the molecular control (protein turnover and translation) of adhesion as initial step in infection and biofilm formation. (iv) We study fungi as models for Parkinson (yeast), fungi as pathogens of immunocompromised patients (A. fumigatus) and as plant pathogens (V. longisporum).