New Professor for Biochemistry of Microorganisms

Prof. Dr. Gerald Lackner took up his post at the University of Bayreuth on 1 September. He takes over the professorship for Biochemistry of Microorganisms. His academic career began at the Friedrich Schiller University in Jena, where he studied biochemistry and later earned his doctorate. In his doctoral thesis, he deciphered the genome of natural substance-producing bacterial endosymbionts of fungi.

His research interests led him further into the topics of biosynthesis of microbial active substances, such as those known from moulds on food. As a PostDoc at ETH Zurich, he researched uncultivable bacteria from marine sponges that produce highly effective substances. In the following years, Lackner took over the leadership of an independent junior research group at the Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology in Jena (Leibniz-HKI). Together with his team, he investigated the biosynthesis of bacterial natural products, their functions and their biotechnological production. On 1 September 2023, he took over the professorship at the University of Bayreuth's Kulmbach campus. "The faculty in Kulmbach deals with a socially very relevant topic that directly affects people," says Lackner. "Microorganisms and their natural products play a very important role in food production and safety, which is why my research ties in very well here." In addition, Keylab Metabolomics offers him excellent prospects for discovering new natural substances.

"I look forward to being able to continue researching the production of microbial active ingredients and food safety in the future," says Lackner. "The sustainable production of natural substances through metabolic engineering with the help of microorganisms represents a fascinating field of research in which I would like to delve further."