Labmembers May 2022
Microbial Interactions in Plant Ecosystems
Prof. Dr. Eric Kemen
Tel +49 7071 29 78725
ORCID ID: 0000-0002-7924-116X
Eric did his PhD in cell biology and phytopathology at the University of Konstanz where he discovered the first fungal effector protein delivered into host plants. Joining the group of Jonathan Jones at the Sainsbury Laboratory in Norwich, UK, he established sequencing and computational techniques to analyze fungal and oomycete genomes. In 2012, Eric became a research group leader at the MPI for Plant Breeding Research in Cologne, focusing with his group on microbe-microbe and plant-microbe interactions. An important finding was the discovery of ‘microbial hubs’ that link microbial communities to the host genotype. Since 2017, Eric is Professor at the University of Tübingen combining computational modelling with ecology and host/microbe genetics to discover novel mechanisms in complex microbial community assembly and stability.
Members of the research group
Vasvi Chaudhry
PostDoc formerly Humboldt Fellow
Email: vasvi.chaudhry@mnf.uni-tuebingen.de
ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9078-9292
Vasvi earned her PhD in Biochemistry from CSIR-National Botanical Research Institute and University of Lucknow (India). During her PhD she worked on Molecular characterization of Plant Growth Promoting and phosphate accumulating bacteria with focus on Pseudomonas putida species and its potential role in plant growth promotion and bioremediation. This was followed by her first postdoc in CSIR-Institute of Microbial Technology (India), where she worked on Microbial comparative genomics and metagenomics of beneficial bacteria associated to Rice. Her broad interests are in analysis of microbial community structure and study their possible interactions using computational as well as experimental approaches. In lab since November 2018, she is working in deciphering complex microbial interactions in Arabidopsis thaliana phyllosphere associated microbiota using culture-dependent and culture-independent approaches, microbial networks and reconstitution experiments using microbial synthetic community in gnotobiotic system. Her interest also lies in studying the source of phyllosphere microbiota.
Yiheng Hu
PostDoc
Email: yiheng.hu@zmbp.uni-tuebingen.de
Yiheng has been a member of our group since March 2021. Previously, he obtained his bachelor's degree from Xiamen University, China and a master's degree from Australian National University, Australia. Yiheng then completed his PhD at the Australian National University and his doctoral thesis dealt with the detection of pathogens and the composition of microbial communities in fungal infections. In Tübingen as postdoc in the Kemen lab, Yiheng's research focuses on the dynamics and stability of the plant microbiome. Specifically, he is interested in the mechanisms of crossfeeding and secondary metabolites within the fungal community of Arabidopsis thialiana.
Ariane Kemen
Researcher
Email: ariane.kemen@uni-tuebingen.de
Arianes research centers on mechanisms used by microbes for inter- or cross-kingdom communication. After completing her PhD studies where she had unrevealed the function of amyloid-like effector proteins in rust fungi, Ariane investigated the host-microbe dialogue focusing on effector-receptor proteins and metabolites, both conferring broad spectrum disease resistances. Her postdoctoral stays at JIC, TSL and MPIPZ enabled here both to follow her topics of interest and to establish new methods for deeper insights into interkingdom communication. In her current projects, Ariane is studying the impact of host genes on the composition of the phyllosphere microbiota with the aim to understand the role of amyloid proteins in the modulation of host-microbe and inter-microbial dialogue.
Samuel Quinzer
PhD student
Email samuel.quinzer@zmbp.uni-tuebingen.de
Samuel Quinzer completed his bachelor's degree in biology, followed by a master's degree in microbiology, at the University of Tübingen. In his Bachelor's thesis, he worked on cyanobacteria and their carbon metabolism. In his Master's thesis, he worked a lot with enzymes, especially with their purification and characterisation by enzymatic assays. Since February 2022, Samuel is a PhD student in the Kemen group and is investigating the influence of basidomycetes on the microbiome of Arabidopsis thaliana.