JSMC Newsletter 2020/01

This is the first issue of the new JSMC Newsletter. If you have comments, contributions or suggestions, we would be happy to receive your e-mail (office@jsmc.info).

Featured events

Below, please find a small selection of upcoming events. A complete and up-to-date list is available in the Event Calendar on the JSMC website. All courses are open to all JSMC PhD students. Course registration follows the first-come, first-served rule.

September 1-3, 2020

Microverse I – Joint International Symposium on Microbial and Biomolecular Interactions
Location: online
The registration deadline is August 25^th. Registration is free of charge.
More info

September 7, 2020, 16:00 – 17:00

Jena Alliance Life in Focus course: Writing cover letters for job applications
Lecturer: Dr. Hendrik Huthoff
Location: online
More info

September 23, 2020

Jena Alliance Life in Focus course: Good Scientific Practice
Lecturer: Dr. Hendrik Huthoff
Location: online
More info

September 25, 2020

Jena Alliance Life in Focus course: Effective visual communication of science
Lecturer: Dr. Jernej Zupanc
Location: online
More info

October 1 - 2, 2020

5th International Symposium: Image-based Systems Biology (IbSB 2020)
Location: Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology
More info

October 5 - 10, 2020

International Mental Health Day Webinar Series
Location: online

In the run up to International Mental Health Day on the 10^th of October, we will offer a series daily short webinars with international experts on subjects spanning mental health in academia, research culture, effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and how to support colleagues or friends who might be affected by mental health issues. On the 10^th of October itself, we will broadcast an exclusive online concert by the British band “The society of imaginary friends”, who have opened Glastonbury festival in 2019 and 2020. There will also be a prize draw. More information to follow.

November 2, 2020

Jena Alliance “Life in Focus” Career Event
Location: online or face-to-face, to be determined
A series of presentations, workshop and networking opportunities with professionals from industry and the public sector. More information to follow.

News from the JSMC Community

Changing of the guard: Prof. Erika Kothe takes over from Prof. Axel Brakhage as spokesperson of the JSMC.

With his election as vice-president of the German Research Foundation (DFG), Prof. Axel Brakhage has relinquished his role as spokesperson of the JSMC to Prof. Erika Kothe. Prof. Kothe has been on the JSMC executive board since its inception in 2007 and has played a pivotal role in obtaining continued funding for the excellence graduate school from the DFG, and from the Carl Zeiss Foundation as of 2019. We congratulate both Prof. Brakhage and Prof. Kothe on their important new roles.

“New” JSMC Website

We are really happy that the new JSMC website is now! All information about the JSMC and events supported or organized by us can now be found here: www.jsmc-phd.de

Please check your entry on the website and let us know if you would like to update your record with a photo or CV. Under „Research“ you will find publications by our doctoral researchers. Please keep us up to date and inform us about your publications.

JSMC Newcomers 2019/2020

Despite COVID-19 there have been quite some JSMC newcomers in the last few months. We want to take this opportunity to introduce and welcome them to the JSMC!

Raquel Alonso Roman
Is supervised by Prof. Hube (HKI) and Dr. Mosig (FSU). She started her research on “The interaction of Candida albicans with antagonistic bacteria in a Gut-on-Chip model” at the Department Microbial Pathogenicity Mechanisms (HKI) in October 2019.

Jisna Jose
Started her research in January 2020 in the Junior Research Group Plant Microbiosis at the FSU. Her project is “The basis of resilience in the A. thaliana leaf microbiota” under the supervision of Dr. Agler (FSU) and Prof. Baldwin (MPI-CE).

Ayda Azar
Joined the Otto Schott Institute of Materials Research - Glass Chemistry in September 2020. She is supervised by Prof. Wondraczek (FSU) and Dr. Stallforth (HKI) and works on the project “Stimulus release from structured glass surfaces”.

Evans Iyamu
Is supervised by Prof. Kothe (FSU) and Prof. Brakhage (HKI). He started his research on “Hydrophobicity for exchange of signals” at the Institute of Microbiology – Microbial communication (FSU) in November 2019.

Emma King
Started her research in October 2019 at the Clinic of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine at the University Hospital. Her project is “Naked mole rats: Patterns of response to microbial infections” under the supervision of Prof. Bauer (UKJ) and Dr. Weis (UKJ).

Kathrin Kowalczuk
Joined the Institute of Organic Chemistry and Macromolecular Chemistry (FSU) in September 2019. Her project is “Bioartificial membranes for gut/liver-on-chip models” under the supervision of Prof. Schacher (FSU) and Dr. Mosig (FSU).

Stefanie Scheide
Is supervised by Prof. Hoffmeister (FSU) and Prof. Kothe (FSU). She started her research on “Secondary metabolome dynamics in structured artificial microhabitats” at the Institute of Pharmaceutical Microbiology (FSU) in November 2019.

Liane Giebeler
Started her research in January 2020 at the Clinic of Medial Microbiology at the University Hospital. Her project is “Alveolar microbiota community and its effect on infection” under the supervision of Prof. Löffler (UKJ).

Trang Vuong
Is supervised by Prof. Mittag (FSU). She started her research on “Biotic interactions of different stages of a green algal life cycle in a natural-structured microverse environment” at the Institute of General Botany (FSU) in November 2019.

Gaukhar Zhurgenbayeva
Joined the group of Superresolution Microscopy (FSU) in October 2019. Her project is “Organ-on-chip: quantitative imaging of microbial dynamics” under the supervision of Prof. Eggeling (FSU) and Prof. Figge (HKI).

Mahnoor Zulfiqar
Started her research in September 2019 at the Department of Analytical Chemistry - Cheminformatics and Chemometrics. Her project is “Integrative analysis of metabolomics and transcriptomic data” under the supervision of Prof. Steinbeck (FSU) and Prof. Pohnert (FSU).

Nino Eberhardt
Is supervised by Prof. Arndt (FSU) and Dr. Stallforth (HKI). He started his research on “Photoinducible Localizable Modulators” at the Institute of Organic Synthesis and Bioorganic Chemistry (FSU) in January 2020.

Josué León
Joined the Institute of Institute of Applied Physics (FSU) in April 2020. His project is “Organ-on-chip: quantitative imaging of microbial dynamics” under the supervision of Prof. Tünnermann (FSU) and Dr. Gräfe (IOF).

Lena Gauthier
Started her research in January 2020 at the Institute of Superresolution Microscopy. Her project is “Optimization of super-resolution microscopy for the determination of optimal therapeutic treatment conditions for viral and bacterial co-infections” under the supervision of Prof. Eggeling (FSU) and Prof. Ehrhardt (UKJ).

Christoph Saffer
Is supervised by Prof. Figge (HKI) and Dr. Mosig (FSU). He started his research on “Spatio-temporal modeling of biological processes in organ-on-chip models” at the research group of Applied Systems Biology (HKI) in January 2020.

Ana Barrera-Palacio
Joined the research group Bio Pilot Plant (HKI) in January 2019 and got admitted to JSMC in August 2019. Her project is “Filamentous microbial co-culture for biotechnological production of natural products” under the supervision of Prof. Agler-Rosenbaum (HKI) and Prof. Kothe (FSU).

Sayoni Chakraborty
Is supervised by Prof. Jacobsen (HKI) and Prof. Slevogt (UKJ). She started her research on “Impact of microbiota and Candida albicans colonization on systemic immune responses” at the research group of Microbial Immunology (HKI) in January 2019.

Sebastian Herkersdorf
Started his research in November 2018 at the Institute of Pharmaceutical Microbiology and got admitted in December 2019. His project is “Role of Basidiomycete small molecules on habitat sharing microbes” under the supervision of Prof. Hoffmeister (FSU) and Prof. Brakhage (HKI).

Abdulrahman Kelani
Is supervised by Prof. Brakhage (HKI) and Prof. Zipfel (HKI). He started his research on “RNA cargo of extracellular vesicles” at the department of Molecular and Applied Microbiology (HKI) in January 2019.

Susanne Löffler
Joined the Institute of Pharmaceutical Microbiology (FSU) in January 2019 and got admitted to JSMC in August 2019. Her project is “Identification and characterization of transcription factors regulating secondary metabolites in basidiomycetes” under the supervision of Prof. Hoffmeister (FSU).

Jan-Philipp Prätorius
Started his research in February 2019 at the research group of Applied Systems Biology and got admitted in July 2019. His project is “Automated analysis of microscopic image data of hostpathogen interactions” under the supervision of Prof. Figge (HKI).

Muhammad Rafiq
Is supervised by Prof. Brakhage (HKI) and Prof. Zipfel (HKI). He started his research on “Molecular mechanisms of lipid raft formation” at the department of Molecular and Applied Microbiology (HKI) in February 2019.

Kevin Schlabach
Started his research in July 2019 at the department of Paleobiotechnology and got admitted in December 2019. His project is “Studies towards the Biosynthesis of Pseudomonas-derived Secondary Metabolites” under the supervision of Dr. Stallforth (HKI) and Prof. Hoffmeister (FSU).

Jakob Sprague
Joined the department of Microbial Pathogenicity Mechanisms (HKI) in April 2019 and got admitted to JSMC in July 2019. His project is “Molecular characterization of Candida albicans mucosal colonization, infection and translocation” under the supervision of Prof. Hube (HKI).

Mona Staudinger
Started her research in January 2019 at the Institute for Inorganic and Analytical Chemistry. Her project is “Algicidal Bacteria in Plankton Communities: Resistance, Lysis and Heterotrophy” under the supervision of Prof. Pohnert (FSU) and Prof. Hoffmeister (FSU).

Santiago Treceno Boto
Is supervised by Prof. Rosenbaum (HKI) and Prof. Hertweck (HKI). He started his research on “Molecular engineering of Clostridia” at the department Bio Pilot Plant (HKI) in November 2018.

New Doctors 2020

We would like congratulate all new doctors on their successful graduation and wish them all the best for the future.

Theresia Conrad
Thesis title: Multilevel modelling of human-pathogenic fungi and the host immune system

Marie Goldmann
Thesis title: Identification of immunogenic components of Aspergillus fumigatus for vaccine development

Xiaoyuan Zhang
Thesis title: Protein Adsorption on Nanostructured Polymer Surfaces

Daniel Preußger
Thesis title: The evolution of metabolic cooperation within bacterial communities: causes and consequences

Wolfgang Vivas
Thesis title: Modulation of Dendritic Cell Function by the fungal Quorum Sensing Molecule Farnesol

Sundar Hengoju
Thesis title: A droplet microfluidic system with integrated optical fibers for multi-parametric analysis of microbiological samples

René Benndorf
Thesis title: Phylogenetic and biochemical analysis of Actinobacteria isolated from fungus-growing termites

Mareike Scheven
Thesis title: Novel molecular mechanisms of iron sensing and homeostasis in Aspergillus fumigatus

Jens Esken
Thesis title: Transcriptional regulation of tetrachlorethe respiration in Sulfurospirillum species

Career, Funding and Information

Registration for new qualification program
From 24 August (9:00 am) you can register in the FSU qualification portal for workshops that will take place in the first half of the coming winter semester (until the end of December). Registration for workshops in the second half of the semester will be activated in November so that we can respond to the hygiene regulations that will be in effect at that time.

Contact persons for workplace bullying
Anna Schröder (phone +49 3641 9-44400, e-mail: anna.schroeder@uni-jena.de) and Katrin Glaser (phone +49 3641 9-400901, e-mail: katrin.glaser@uni-jena.de) are now available to you as confidential contact persons in cases of workplace bullying.

PhD & Postdoc Positions in Marine Metabolomics
The Vardi lab is seeking highly skilled and motivated candidates with expertise in metabolomics to join a new and exciting project funded by the Simons Foundation in the field of chemical ecology, focusing on host-pathogen interactions and chemical communication in the ocean.

For further information please contact JSMC alumna Constanze (constanze.kuhlisch@weizmann.ac.il) or visit http://www.weizmann.ac.il/plants/vardi/