People

I started to work with B. subtilis during my diploma thesis in Marburg, analyzing the gene expression pattern during sporulation and their control by the four sporulation sigma factors. This work was continued during my PhD thesis in Greifswald. In collaboration with Prof. Bremer and Prof. Marahiel in Marburg we also studied additional adaptation processes of B. subtilis, like the adaptation to low temperatur and high osmolarity. I am now working as a staff scientist in Prof. Völkers lab in ...

The main area of my expertise concerns protein sorting and secretion in Gram-positive bacteria, such as Bacillus subtilis and Staphylococcus aureus.

The Gram-positive bacterium B. subtilis is well known for its high capacity to secrete proteins into the extracellular milieu, which has led to its exploitation as a "cell factory" for secreted proteins. Nevertheless, the secretion of heterologous proteins of pharmaceutical importance is frequently inefficient. This applied problem has been a major ...