Deutsch Intern
  • Blick auf das Hauptgebäude der Uni Würzburg am Sanderring.
IMIB - INSTITUTE OF MOLECULAR INFECTION BIOLOGY

PD Dr. Wilma Ziebuhr

 

      RESEARCH TOPICS
 

  • Staphylococcal biofilm organization and RNA-mediated regulation
     
  • T-box riboswitches and control of essential metabolic pathways​
     
  • Antibiotic resistance mechanisms against last resort antibiotics​
     
  • One Health aspects of bacterial resistance development and spread

MODEL ORGANISMS

Research

Main research interest is understanding the lifestyle of staphylococci as major opportunistic pathogens. Our group has a track record in molecular biology, genetics and epidemiology of both multiresistant coagulase-negative staphylococci (MR-CoNS) and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). Current projects focus on RNA-mediated regulation of virulence (i.e. biofilm formation) and metabolism (i.e. riboswitches). We also have a long-standing interest in One Health aspects of staphylococcal epidemiology by analysing antibiotic resistance (ABR) profiles of CoNS from various habitats in Germany and Africa. Here we explore the potential of apathogenic and environmental bacteria as reservoirs for emerging novel ABR genes. Finally, we support colleagues from chemistry and pharmacy in their efforts to identify novel lead compounds with anti- staphylococcal activity.


Marciniak T, Kirchner L, Wolf SA, Walther B, Bischler T, Nyasinga J, Gunturu R, Semmler T, Grafenhan T, Whitelaw A, Scherf-Clavel O, Holzgrabe U, Ziebuhr W. (2025)
Emergence of transferable daptomycin resistance in Gram-positive bacteria.
NPJ Antimicrob Resist 3(1):33.

Kirchner L, Marciniak T, Erk C, Ziebuhr W, Scherf-Clavel O, Holzgrabe U. (2024).
Structure Elucidation of the Daptomycin Products Generated upon Heterologous Expression of the Daptomycin Resistance Gene Cluster drcAB.
ACS Infect Dis 10(12):4271-8.

Wencker FDR, Marincola G, Schoenfelder SMK, Maaß S, Becher D, Ziebuhr W (2021).
Another layer of complexity in Staphylococcus aureus methionine biosynthesis control: Unusual RNase III-driven T-box riboswitch cleavage determines met operon mRNA stability and decay.
Nucleic Acids Res 49 (4): 2192-2212.

Lerch MF, Schoenfelder SMK, Marincola G, Wencker FDR, Eckart M, Forstner KU, Sharma CM, Thormann KM, Kucklick M, Engelmann S, & Ziebuhr W (2019)
A non-coding RNA from the intercellular adhesion (ica) locus of Staphylococcus epidermidis controls polysaccharide intercellular adhesion (PIA)-mediated biofilm formation.
Mol Microbiol 111(6):1571-1591.

Schoenfelder SMK, Lange C, Prakash SA, Marincola G, Lerch MF, Wencker FDR, Forstner KU, Sharma CM, & Ziebuhr W (2019)
The small non-coding RNA RsaE influences extracellular matrix composition in Staphylococcus epidermidis biofilm communities.
PLoS Pathog 15(3):e1007618.

 

Publications chronological (pdf)

PD Dr. Wilma Ziebuhr

Group Leader
Institute of Molecular Infection Biology
Ziebuhr Group
Building: D15
Room: 02.025
Phone: +49-931-31-82154
[Translate to Englisch:]

Samuel Carien

PhD Student
Institute of Molecular Infection Biology
Ziebuhr Group
Building: D15
Room: 02.026
Phone: +49 931 31-82709
[Translate to Englisch:]