Leisner Group

Heterogeneity in bacterial communities Antibiotics are compounds produced by microorganisms to kill or inhibit growth of other microorganisms. The cell wall antibiotic bacitracin affects growth of the gram - positive model organism Bacillus subtilis.

Colony development Bacterial communities represent complex and dynamic ecological systems. They appear in the form of free-floating bacteria as well as biofilms in nearly all parts of our environment, and are highly relevant for human health and disease. Spatial patterns arise from heterogeneities of the underlying 'landscape' or self-organized by the bacterial interactions, and play an important role in maintaining species diversity.

Manipulation With more and more bacterial strains becoming resistant to several antibiotics, humanity is in the need to find new possibilities to prevent bacterial infection. Successful bacterial infection is dependent on the composition of the bacterial colony, e.g. the presence of toxin producers. Bacterial biofilms are usually composed of several bacterial species, harmless ones and those that trigger tissue infection.

Cantilever array biosensors Bacteria are sensing their environment via specific receptors. These recognition sites can be used to detect and discriminate different bacterial species. Here we study the usability of a cantilever array biosensor for the detection of Escherichia coli strains with different glycan binding properties.

Small Regulatory RNAs Small regulatory RNAs (sRNAs) are expressed in both prokaryotes and eukaryotes. While the regulating mechanisms of short interfering RNAs (siRNA) or microRNAs (miRNA) are well understood in eukaryotes, little is known about sRNA induced gene regulation in prokaryotes; especially bacteria.

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Open Projects for PhD, Diploma/Master and Bachelor Theses

Projects are often experimental and in collaboration with Lehrstuhl Rädler. On request.