Institute of Microbiology and Hygiene

Clinical metagenomics

We are interested in harnessing new advances in high-throughput techniques in clinical microbiology and implementing next-generation and third-generation sequencing in patients‘ diagnosis. Currently we are conducting and preparing various clinical studies with our collaborators from Freiburg University Medical Centre to compare the sensitivity of high-throughput methods in clinical situations, and study the impact of the human microbiome on various pathologies.

Computational modeling of host–pathogen interactions

We try to understand host–pathogen interactions and immune response by exploiting heterogenic datasets through multi-cohort analysis and rigorous preprocessing and data cleaning approaches to help us guide new molecular studies and disease biomarker discoveries.

Helicobacter pylori infections

Helicobacter pylori frequently colonizes the human gastric mucosa and can cause ulcers and gastric cancer. We are studying how Helicobacter pylori interacts with the host’s mitochondria leading to pathology and the possible role of mitochondrial modulation in disease development.

Analysis of high-throughput data

We use high-throughput sequencing technologies in infection models to study several host-pathogen interactions. By using genomic, transcriptomic and proteomic analyses we hope to understand the role of the apoptosis system in infection-induced tumorigenesis and host microbiome modulation.