This session will involve the microbial secondary metabolome and its effect on microbial interactions. Specifically, it aims to promote the discussion of the many aspects of microbial natural products like
Wilfred van der Donk
Image: Wilfred van der Donk
Prof. Dr. Wilfred van der Donk holds the Richard E. Heckert Endowed Chair in Chemistry at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and is an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.
His research group focuses on studying the discovery, the mechanisms, mode of action and bioengineering of ribosomally synthesized and post-translationally modified peptides (RiPPs) and phosphonate antibiotics, that have a great potential for therapeutic use. By combining synthetic chemistry, biochemistry, enzymology, molecular biology, and bioinformatics, his research group gains better understanding in enzyme catalysis and uses that knowledge for synthetic biology.
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Christian Hertweck
Image: Christian HertweckHead of the department of biomolecular chemistry at the Leibniz Institute for Natural Products Research and Infection Biology.
The research group of Prof. Dr. Hertweck investigates microbial natural products with ecological and pharmaceutical relevance, focusing on less explored bacterial genera. They employ chemical analysis and genetic methods to discover and investigate new biologically active compounds and toxins. By combining chemical and biological methods, they also study the biosynthesis of specialized metabolites and their biological functions in microbial interactions
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