My major teaching areas are bachelor courses for Molecular Biology (courses IA and IIIA). In the Molecular Biology Course IA the focus is on teaching basic methods used in Microbiology (e.g. growth, cultivation, identification) as well as in Genetics (e.g. mutagenesis, conjugation and transformation). In the more advanced IIIA course, current research topics are used for practical implementation of methods used in Molecular Microbiology. A complementary seminar deepens the knowledge on the methods used in the laboratory course.
The number of human bacterial pathogens showing increased resistance towards clinically used antibiotics is steadily increasing, posing major threats on health care. Understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying antibiotic resistance is thus instrumental to cope with these developments. One regulatory mechanism impacting antibiotic resistance is carbon catabolite repression (CCR). In the human pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa, the regulatory proteins involved in CCR are the RNA chaperone Hfq and the carbon catabolite regulator protein Crc as well as the regulatory RNA CrcZ. Harnessing CrcZ as a major regulator of Hfq-Crc mediated regulation has been shown to modulate the susceptibility of P. aeruginosa to several different antibiotics.
Senior lecturer and scientist at the Department of Microbiology, Immunobiology and Genetics at the University of Vienna (since 2014). Master degree (2001) and Ph.D. degree (2004) in Biochemistry from the University of Vienna; Erwin-Schrödinger Fellowship (FWF) at the University of Lausanne, Switzerland (2007-2009); Hertha Firnberg Fellowship (FWF) (2010-2012); Univie teaching award (2016).
Phage therapy for treating bacterial infections: a double-edged sword
Suckers and segments of the octopus arm
Using the house mouse radiation to study the rapid evolution of genes and genetic processes
CRISPR jumps ahead: mechanistic insights into CRISPR-associated transposons
SLiMs and SHelMs: Decoding how short linear and helical motifs direct PPP specificity to direct signaling
Title to be announced
Enigmatic evolutionary origin and multipotency of the neural crest cells - major drivers of vertebrate evolution
Visualising mitotic chromosomes and nuclear dynamics by correlative light and electron microscopy
Engineered nanocarriers for imaging of small proteins by CryoEM
Bacterial cell envelope homeostasis at the (post)transcriptional level
Title to be announced
Hydrologic extremes alter mechanisms and pathways of carbon export from mountainous floodplain soils
Dissecting post-transcriptional gene expression regulation in humans and viruses
Prdm9 control of meiotic synapsis of homologs in intersubspecific hybrids
Polyploidy and rediploidisation in stressful times
Title to be announced
RNA virus from museum specimens
Programmed DNA double-strand breaks during meiosis: Mechanism and evolution
Title to be announced