The Robert Koch Institute (RKI): main building in Berlin. more
Germany’s Public Health institute RKI monitors the population’s health and wellbeing. more
The Robert Koch Institute is the German government's central institution for the identification, surveillance and prevention of infectious diseases in the Portfolio of the German Ministry of Health. more
Group members
M. Sc. Ulrike Blaschke
Dipl.-Biochem. Christof Neugebauer
MTA Evelyn Skiebe
M. Sc. Kristin Weber
Acinetobacter baumannii and related species such as A. pittii and A. nosocomialis are Gram-negative bacteria that appear as opportunistic pathogens in hospitals where they constitute a serious threat especially to immuno-compromised patients. They can cause ventilator-associated pneumonia, infections of wounds, soft-tissue and the urinary tract as well as sepsis and meningitis. Increasingly, they appear as multi-drug resistant pathogens, restricting therapeutic options more and more. Since our comprehension of these pathogens is still very limited, we intend to contribute to the understanding of their biology by addressing the following topics:
A colony of Acinetobacter baumannii spreading on a semi-solid medium surface
Source: RKI
Besides studying Acinetobacter, work funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) in the context of priority programme 1316 "Host-adapted metabolism of bacterial pathogens" deals with the interplay between metabolism and virulence determinants studying the gramnegative enteropathogen Yersinia enterocolitica. Yersinia species pathogenic to humans, Y. enterocolitica, Y. pseudotuberculosis and Y. pestis, deploy a molecular injection device (a so-called type III protein secretion system, abbreviated T3SS), to deliver a cocktail of effector proteins into host cells to manipulate the host’s immune responses. Together with cooperation partners we investigate the metabolism of the pathogen in the context of infection applying nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR) and gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry. Studies on the metabolism of pathogens are an important complement to the understanding of infections and may pave the way to the development of novel therapeutic options.
Open positions
Vacancies you will find advertised by the Robert Koch-Institute. Inquiries regarding practical training, bachelor, master or diploma theses can be addressed to the project leader directly.
Date: 17.04.2018
