Assignments and research activities:

• Vice director of the institute; head of the molecular microbial ecology and bacterial phytopathogen group
• Development and exploitation of molecular cultivation-dependent and -independent detection methods for bacterial pathogens
• Epidemiology of bacterial pathogens by means of molecular detection methods
• Interaction of antagonists, pathogens and microbial communities in the rhizosphere
• Effects of soil, plant species, cultivar, and agricultural systems on the structural and functional diversity of microbial communities in the rhizosphere
• Adaption and diversification of bacteria (among others: bacterial pathogens) via plasmids
• Ecology of bacterial antibiotic resistance genes

Boards, memberships and other activities:

• Member of „Vereinigung für allgemeine und angewandte Mikrobiologie“ (VAAM)
• Member of American Society of Microbiology
• Member of the International Society for Microbial Ecology (ISME)
• Member of the Deutsche Phytomedizinische Gesellschaft (DPG)
• Member of the Deutsche Bodenkundliche Gesellschaft (DBG)
• Editor of
  
  • FEMS Microbiology Ecology
  • Frontiers in Microbiology
  • BMC Microbiology

• Ad-hoc-reviewer for diverse scientific journals
  
  • Microbial Ecology
  • Soil Biology and Biochemistry
  • Plasmid
  • Microbiology
  • Applied Soil Ecology
  • New Phytologist
  • Environmental Microbiology

• Member of the DFG Fachkollegiums Agrar 207

Awards

• Ehrennadel des Julius Kühn-Instituts 2016
• Wissenschaftspreis der DPG 2017

Professional career & education:

• 2017 Elected member of the DFG Fachkollegium 207
• 2011 Honorary doctor in Agriculture at the SLU
• 2006 Professor (adjunct) at the TU Braunschweig, Germany
• 1999 Venia legendi for microbiology
• 1991 - 2008 Scientific co-worker and head of the molecular microbial ecology group at the Federal Biological Research Centre
• 1984 - 1991 Bezirkshygiene Institut; head of the reference laboratory on the risks of biotechnology, Magdeburg, Germany
• 1985 Dr. rer. nat. in Biochemistry
• 1980 - 1984 PhD in Biochemistry: Institute of Biochemistry, Medical Faculty, Martin-Luther-University, Halle, Germany
• 1980 Diplom Chemiker Institute for Biochemistry, Medical Faculty, Martin-Luther-University, Halle, Germany
• 1975 - 1980 Study of chemistry at Martin-Luther-University, Halle-Wittenberg, German

Publications/Profil at Researchgate

Publications at ResearchID

Publications in the Julius Kühn-Institut