Experimentelle ­Mykologie und ­Mikrobiomforschung

Pulmonary fungal infections are a major and growing threat to human health. Our goal is to uncover the evolutionary and molecular mechanisms that enable fungal pathogens to cause disease and resist treatment. By leveraging genomics, microbiome science, and experimental biology, we aim to advance new strategies for diagnosis, prevention, and therapy.

• "Flipping the switch on fungal pH adaptation". Wellcome Trust. 2026-2031
• CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholar Program. 2025-2027
• "Environmental interactions shape human virulence in fungi”. Boeringer Ingelheim Foundation. 2025-2027
• "Fungal RNA Transmission Impacting Human Epigenome Regulation”. Leibniz Collaborative Excellence. 2024-2027

Microbiology and molecular biology:

• EUCAST antifungal susceptibility testing of moulds and yeasts
• Genetic manipulation of filamentous fungi (e.g. Aspergillus fumigatus)
• Isolation of genomic DNA and RNA from fungi and host tissues, including high molecular weight DNA
• PCR
• Sanger sequencing
• qPCR
• Spectophotometric and fluorometric quality control of DNA and RNA

Computational

• Illumina, PacBio, and Oxford Nanopore sequencing
• Eukaryotic genome assembly and annotation
• Pangenome graphs
• Amplicon-based profiling of bacterial and fungal communities (e.g. 16S and ITS amplicons)
• Metagenome assembly, binning, annotation, and taxonomic profiling
• Phylogenetic reconstruction
• Co-abundance network analysis
• Transcriptome analysis, including dual (host-pathogen) RNAseq
• Geneset enrichment and pathway analysis