Research Areas
Area A
cellular structures & functions of non-model organisms
How do gut microbes organize their cellular processes? How do they build and protect their cellular structures?
Daniel Unterweger &
Holger Sondermann
The Bacteroides type VI secretion systems as unique machineries for the transmembrane transport of effector proteins with unknown function
Lisa Maier &
Stephan Sieber
UNCODE –
Uncovering New Clostridial Gene Functions Using Off‑Target Drug Effects on Human Gut Microbes
Julia Mahamid &
Joel Selkrig &
Mikhail Savitski &
Elucidating cell-surface protein complexes and their assembly in Bacteroidota
Jan Schuller
Understanding the role of molecular and cellular structures in gut acetogens as key adaptive strategies for survival in a competitive microbiome
Area B
capacities to process or produce metabolites
How do gut microbes import and metabolize nutrients? How do they resist and modify xenobiotics, such as dietary compounds and drugs?
Mathilde Poyet
Genomic and functional diversity of cholesterol metabolism by human gut microbes
Area C
sensing of, interaction with and adaptation to surroundings
How do commensal gut microbes interact with each other and the host? How do they sense and fight competitors?
Jana Seifert &
Julia Fritz-Steuber
How Segatella copri deals with oxygen: Mechanisms for the conversion of O2 and peroxides in an obligate anaerobic gut bacterium
Kirsten Jung
How a commensal bacterium of the genus Desulfovibrio finds its niche in the gut and how this process can be stopped
Nassos Typas
Unraveling the arsenal and mechanisms that Bacteroidetes use for kin competition
Felix M. Key
Elucidate the evolution and function of genes driving Bifidobacterium colonisation in the infant gut
Kai Papenfort
Deciphering the molecular mechanisms of inter-species bacterial communication in the gut microbiome
Thomas Clavel &
Tobias A. M. Gulder
Unlocking the functional potential of specialized metabolites in Eubacteriales from the human gut
Franziska Faber &
Jörg Vogel &
Christian Hertweck
Genetic and molecular determinants of specialized metabolite functions during gut microbial interactions in Fusobacterium nucleatum
Melanie Schirmer &
Dirk Haller
Functional adaptation of Phocaeicola vulgatus in response to metabolic injury and chronic inflammation
Alexander Westermann
Functional characterization of Bacteroidota RRM proteins: a prevalent family of RNA-binding proteins in the human gut microbiota
Bärbel Stecher &
Markus Ralser
Elucidating mechanisms of metabolic interaction and gene function in spatially interacting microbiome keystone bacteria
Christoph Kaleta &
Martin van Bergen
Exploring the dark matter of microbial metabolic interactions and its relevance for bacterial metabolism in a simplified model gut microbiome
Z Projects
sensing of, interaction with and adaptation to surroundings
How do commensal gut microbes interact with each other and the host? How do they sense and fight competitors?
Robert Finn
Central hub for the functional annotation and exploration of genomes from the human microbiome