RNA Biology of bacterial infections
The Vogel lab strives to chart the diversity of noncoding RNA functions and RNA-binding proteins in major bacterial pathogens and in the hundreds of different bacteria that make up the human microbiome. We develop new RNA deep sequencing-based techniques to capture the RNA world of any microbe, ideally at the single cell level. We want to understand how and why bacteria use RNA as a regulator during infection and exploit this knowledge to target pathogens and edit the microbiota with precision. Projects focus on several bacteria from our major workhorse Salmonella Typhimurium to anaerobic microbes that are associated with colorectal cancer such as Fusobacterium nucleatum. This group is located at the Helmholtz Institute for RNA-based Infection Research (HIRI).
Leader
Prof Jörg Vogel
"Until recently, the significance of RNA molecules in infection processes has been greatly underestimated. Today, we know that RNAs interact with a diverse array of molecules of the host cell and the pathogen. To exploit these opportunities, HIRI will pioneer an integrated concept using cutting-edge technologies."
Prof. Jörg Vogel studied biochemistry at Humboldt University, Berlin, Germany, and at Imperial College, London, UK. In 1999, he received his PhD from Humboldt University with a thesis on Group II intron splicing. He spent his postdoctoral years at Uppsala University, Sweden (2000-2001) and as an EMBO fellow at the Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel (2002-2003) before he started an Independent Junior Research Group at the Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology (204-2010). He became Full Professor and Director of the Institute for Molecular Infection Biology at the University of Würzburg in 2009. As of 2017, he is the Founding Director of the Helmholtz Institute for RNA-based Infection Research in Würzburg.
Jörg Vogel is an elected member of EMBO, the German National Academy of Sciences, as well as the European and American Academies of Microbiology. In 2017, he received a Leibniz Prize, Germany’s most prestigious research award, for his work combining RNA biology and infection research.
Further Information
A current overview of the team and further information about the research group can be found on the HIRI page.
