Current Research Questions

The ability of living organisms to adapt their metabolism to nutrient limitation, host or environmental changes is of outermost importance for survival. Central to this process are the nutritional alarmones pppGpp and ppGpp (collectively named: (p)ppGpp) that globally reprograms replication, transcription, translation and metabolism. We study all aspects of the molecular framework of (p)ppGpp from a molecular and systems biology perspective.

Microorganisms are well recognized as pathogens. More frequently, however, they are found in symbiotic or opportunistic relations with their hosts. We are interested in the communication at the host-microbe interface and the molecular mechanisms qualifying/quantifying these interactions as pathogenic, symbiotic or opportunistic.

Flagella are the engines of bacterial motility and highly relevant for bacterial ecology (e.g. host-microbe interactions, biofilms). We study the molecular mechanisms underyling: i.) flagella biogenesis, ii.) spatial-numerical regulation of flagella and iii.) role of flagella for bacterial ecology.