Deutsch Intern
IMIB - INSTITUTE OF MOLECULAR INFECTION BIOLOGY

Prof. Dr. J. Morschhäuser

 

       RESEARCH TOPICS 

  • Pathogenicity of Candida albicans
     
  • Molecular mechanisms of drug resistance in Candida albicans
     
  • Gene regulation in Candida albicans
     
  • Signaling pathways in Candida albicans
     

  • Microevolution of Candida albicans

 

Model Organisms

Research

Our group studies the yeast Candida albicans, which is a member of the microbiota of the gastrointestinal and genitourinary tracts in most healthy persons. Especially in immunocompromised patients, this normally harmless fungus can become a pathogen and cause superficial infections of the mucosa and skin as well as life-threatening systemic infections after dissemination via the bloodstream. Adaptation of the gene expression pattern to altered environmental conditions in new host niches, induction of developmental programs that involve changes in its morphology, and genomic alterations that  result in the acquisition of novel phenotypic traits all contribute to the success of C. albicans as a commensal and pathogen in the human host and are topics of our research projects.

Staib P, Kretschmar M, Nichterlein T, Hof H, Morschhäuser J (2000) Differential activation of a Candida albicans virulence gene family during infection.
Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 97:6102-6107.

Morschhäuser J, Barker KS, Liu TT, Blaß-Warmuth J, Homayouni R, Rogers PD (2007) The transcription factor Mrr1p controls expression of the MDR1 efflux pump and mediates multidrug resistance in Candida albicans.
PLoS Pathog. 3:e164.

Hampe IAI, Friedman J, Edgerton M, Morschhäuser J (2017) An acquired mechanism of antifungal drug resistance simultaneously enables Candida albicans to escape from intrinsic host defenses.
PLoS Pathog. 13:e1006655.

Popp C, Ramírez-Zavala B, Schwanfelder S, Krüger I, Morschhäuser J (2019) Evolution of fluconazole-resistant Candida albicans strains by drug-induced mating competence and parasexual recombination.
mBio 10:e02740-18.

Ramírez-Zavala B, Krüger I, Dunker C, Jacobsen ID, Morschhäuser J (2022) The protein kinase Ire1 has a Hac1-independent essential role in iron uptake and virulence of Candida albicans.
PLoS Pathog. 18:e1010283.

Publications chronological (pdf)

Prof. Dr. Joachim Morschhäuser

Group Leader
Institute of Molecular Infection Biology
Morschhäuser Group
Building: D15
Room: 02.036
Phone: +49-931-31-82152

Ines Krüger

Technician
Institute of Molecular Infection Biology
Morschhäuser Group
Building: D15
Room: 02.239
Phone: +49-931-31-83922
[Translate to Englisch:]

Dr. Bernardo Ramírez-Zavala

Postdoc
Institute of Molecular Infection Biology
Morschhäuser Group
Building: D15
Room: 02.239
Phone: +49-931-31-81483
[Translate to Englisch:]

Sonja Schwanfelder

Technician
Institute of Molecular Infection Biology
Morschhäuser Group
Building: D15
Room: 02.239
Phone: +49-931-31-85985
[Translate to Englisch:]