Microbial Pathogenicity Mechanisms

YouTube video by Universität Jena THREE QUESTIONS FOR ... Miriam Agler-Rosenbaum

🎥 New "3 Questions for …" episode! Prof. Miriam Rosenbaum shows how microbes can produce antibiotics, bioplastics, and find balance under stress. Discover how our #ClusterOfExcellence brings interdisciplinary science to life! 🌱🔬
www.youtube.com/watch?v=FA45...

Zoltán Cseresnyés, an older man with short gray hair and a friendly smile, stands indoors beside a long office table. He is wearing a light blue short-sleeved shirt, gray trousers, and brown shoes. He holds a small potted bonsai tree in both hands. On the table next to him are a large potted plant, a green watering can, and a book. The background shows a bright modern room with white walls and wooden flooring. In the upper left, a colorful speech bubble contains the text: “I am an image analyst. I help biologists and chemists to analyze their image data and get information and quantification out of microscopy images, thus allowing them to modify or plan experiments.” The Leibniz-HKI logo appears in blue at the bottom left, and an orange arrow points to the right.

Colorful calendar page for October 2025 from the Leibniz-HKI Calendar. The background fades from blue on the left to purple on the right. The word 'OCTOBER' appears in bold orange letters. Below it, the name 'Zoltán Cseresnyés' is written in large green text. At the bottom left, small black text reads 'Leibniz-HKI Calendar 2025' with the blue Leibniz-HKI logo beneath it. On the right side, the word 'SWIPE' is written in black uppercase letters next to an orange arrow pointing right.

A close-up photo shows the back of a man’s head as he looks at a computer monitor displaying a complex network of colorful lines and nodes on a dark background – microscopy data visualization. The desk below the monitor holds papers, computer accessories, and cables. In the top left, a colorful speech bubble contains the text: “The real highlight was being there at the very beginning of super-resolution microscopy.” The Leibniz-HKI logo appears in blue at the bottom left, and an orange arrow points to the right.

Zoltán Cseresnyés and a younger woman with dark hair, one of his colleagues, sit side by side at a table in a bright office. Zoltán, wearing a light blue short-sleeved shirt, gestures with his hand while explaining something on a laptop screen. The woman listens attentively, wearing a patterned blouse and a wristwatch. Behind them, large windows with blinds fill the room with natural light. A colorful speech bubble above them contains the text: “It is crucial to remain flexible and open – both in mind and in career.” The Leibniz-HKI logo appears in blue at the bottom left of the image.

🍁 Meet our #October #calendar 2025 feature: Zoltán Cseresnyés, imaging specialist at our @appsysbio.bsky.social research group. From 1980s Hungary to super-resolution microscopy at Cambridge, he now helps researchers unlock insights from complex images. 🔬🌌
lmy.de/LsPim

#FacesOfScience #LeibnizHKI

📣 I’m excited to share two open positions in my lab @leibniz-hki.de. For this interdisciplinary project with @luziagyr.bsky.social, I’m seeking (1) an enthusiastic PhD student interested in fungal natural product research and genetic engineering, as well as (2) a technical assistant 👇🏻

Thank you so much @mpm-hki.bsky.social for having me - I have enjoyed my first visit to Jena very much

An oak tree isolate of #CandidaAlbicans was “trained” on a sugar-rich diet for 6 weeks! Its descendants showed greater antifungal resistance, and some showed enhanced hyphae formation, and more host-cell damage. Even "harmless" strains can turn pathogenic under sweet conditions.
(2/2)

“Pour some sugar on me”—Environmental Candida albicans isolates and the evolution of increased pathogenicity and antifungal resistance through sugar adaptation Author summary In this study, we set out to understand whether Candida albicans found in nature can be as dangerous as the strains collected from patients, and whether a diet high in sugar affects the...

“Pour some sugar on me” — environmental #CandidaAlbicans strains on a sugar diet can evolve enhanced virulence and antifungal resistance.
Read our @leibniz-hki.de most recent discovery @plos.org
doi.org/10.1371/jour...
(1/2)

Myrto Katsipoulaki (third from the right) won a prize for her poster

It's a wrap! Thanks to the organizers at @microbiologysociety.org for this great #Candida2025 conference! 🍄👏😊

And congratulations to our PhD student Myrto who won a prize for her excellent poster presentation! 🥳🎉

@leibniz-hki.de

Thanks to the organizers at @microbiologysociety.org for giving us the opportunity to present our work!

Feel free to contact and approach us anytime during the conference if you have further questions/comments/suggestions! 😊

Theresa Lange's plenary session talk about C. glabrata's interaction with macrophages

Tim Schille's presentation about dissecting the antibacterial functions of candidalysin

Sascha Brunke's presentation about Osama Elshafee's work about the C. albicans lipase gene family

Hope y'all enjoyed our talks at #Candida2025! Theresa presented yesterday one of her PhD projects about the C. glabrata-macrophage interaction. Tim presented today his work about the antibacterial mechanisms of candidalysin, and Sascha presented Osama's work on C. albicans' lipases.
@leibniz-hki.de

Anna's poster B22

At today's poster session at #Candida2025 come and check out Anna's poster #B022! She presents her PhD project about Candida albicans protein kinases and how they affect pathogenicity.

@microbiologysociety.org
@trr124-funginet.bsky.social
@leibniz-hki.de

Verena's poster A024

Steffi's poster A006

Myrto's poster A012

Don't miss our posters at #Candida2025 today! Myrto presents poster #A12 about dissecting C. albicans isolates using reporter cell lines. Steffi's poster #A6 is about ECE1 in non-albicans Candida species. And Verena presents her multi-reporter cells at poster #A24.
@microbiologysociety.org

The #Candida2025 meeting has started! And what a great kick-off with these two keynote speakers: @slg1717.bsky.social introduced her group's work around IL-17 and our boss Bernie presented a great overview about our group's candidalysin research. 🍄🧬🔬

@leibniz-hki.de
@microbiologysociety.org

On our way to the #Candida2025 hosted by the @microbiologysociety.org. Looking forward to see you there! 😊🍄

Excieted to see @fungalmeg.bsky.social
from #UNSW #Sydney present her groundbreaking work on harnessing the human microbiome to combat #CandidaAlbicans, along with advances in antifungal polymers we at @leibniz-hki.de have had the pleasure to collaborate on in the past!

What a great talk by Megan Lenardon @fungalmeg.bsky.social from the #UNSWSydney! She visited our lab today @leibniz-hki.de and presented her group's work about how to antagonize #Candida albicans infections, either by novel antifungal polymers or via microbiome-based therapeutics. 🦠🧫🔬

Forscher decken Pathogenitätsmechanismus von Hefepilz auf Candida albicans produziert ein Toxin, das krank macht – aber in geringen Mengen hilft es dem Pilz, um dauerhaft in der Mundschleimhaut zu überleben

Am Beispiel des Hefepilzes Candida albicans zeigen Forschende unter Leitung von @lableibundgut.bsky.social, mit Kollegen von @mpm-hki.bsky.social am @leibniz-hki.de und @pasteur.fr, wie das #Immunsystem auf unterschiedliche Pilzstämme reagiert. #Mikrobiologie #Pilzinfektion

Dose makes the difference! #Candidaalbicans uses the toxin #candidalysin not only to cause infections but also to quietly colonize the mouth – too little fails, too much triggers immune defense.

@natmicrobiol.nature.com
@mpm-hki.bsky.social

picture credits: Erik Böhm, @leibniz-hki.de

Dynamic expression of candidalysin facilitates oral colonization of Candida albicans in mice - Nature Microbiology Despite being a virulence factor, candidalysin toxin is essential for Candida albicans to penetrate the oral epithelium to establish and maintain non-infectious colonization

doi.org/10.1038/s415...

—but its expression must be tightly controlled to avoid triggering inflammation and being cleared by the host. This explains why even “virulence” factors are essential for fungal commensalism, not just disease.
(2/2)

#CandidaAlbicans needs the toxin candidalysin to colonize the oral cavity in mice. A new sudy in collaboration with @lableibundgut.bsky.social and @pasteur.fr shows that candidalysin enables the fungus to cross the outer skin layer, resist the immune response, and maintain its niche—(1/2)

Using an IEC model, we show:
🧬 Yeast hitchhike with invasive hyphae via candidalysin-driven damage
⚠️ Barrier disruption alone allows yeast translocation
🔑 PES1 links hypha-to-yeast transition with crossing efficiency

Fungal determinants contributing to translocation of Candida albicans yeast cells through the intestinal epithelial barrier Abstract. Filamentous hyphae are the main invasive morphotype of the opportunistic fungal pathogen Candida albicans. However, yeast cells seem better suite

🚨New paper out in microLife!
We uncover how Candida albicans yeast cells cross intestinal barriers during infection.

📖 Read more: academic.oup.com/microlife/ad...

Paul Mathias Jansen presenting his exciting work comparing environmental and clinical #CandidaAlbicans strains at #DGHM @leibniz-hki.de

Excellent talk! Our Postdoc Steffi Allert presented another part of Tim's @microverse.bsky.social -funded project about the role of ECE1 (the gene that encodes candidalysin) in non-albicans #Candida species. 🧬🍄
Feel free to find her during the coffee break for further questions!
@leibniz-hki.de

Well done! Myrto's Master's student Taniya Banerjee presented her work at the #DGHM about infection dynamics of clinical #Candida albicans isolates.🍄😊
@leibniz-hki.de

And another excellent talk at todays #EukaryoticPathogens session at the #DGHM by Myrto Katsipoulaki! 😊 She presented her #LPI -funded project about designing multi-reporter cell lines. 🎆🧬
If you have questions about her work, feel free to ask her during the coffee break!

@leibniz-hki.de

Hope y'all enjoyed Tim's talk at the #DGHM as much as we did! He presented his @microverse.bsky.social -funded PhD work on the antibacterial mechanisms of candidalysin. 🦠🍄🧫
He's still around for a chat in case you have questions about his project! 😊

@leibniz-hki.de

Big congrats to Joachim Matz from #BNITM! Joachim, also a consortium member of our EXIT Priority Programme received the #DGHM Sponsorship Award today in Jena. Keep up the great work, Joachim!

Die Infektionsforscherinnen Anja Lührmann, Sandra Reuter, Gabriele Pradel und Bärbel Stecher stehen stolz vor den Werbebannern von Infect-Net, Verband Deutscher Infektionsforscherinnen.

🔎 Find us at the 77th #DGHM Meeting in #Jena! Gabriele Pradel, Anja Lührmann, Sandra Reuter, Bärbel Stecher and others are happy to tell you more about our German network for women in infection research! 💜
👩‍🔬@gabrielepradel.bsky.social @sandrareuter.bsky.social @baerboletta.bsky.social

Biophelion aims to recover new recyclable materials from industrial waste in the future.

Biophelion also gives young scientists the opportunity to gain qualifications.

The two founders, Lars Regestein (left) and Till Tiso (right), on their way to the laboratories of the BioInstrumentezentrum.

Biophelion, a @leibniz-hki.de spin-off, turns industrial waste into sustainable materials! 🌱♻️ Using a black yeast, they create biodegradable polyesters, pullulan & new eco-friendly surfactants.
@sprind-de.bsky.social
@tilltiso.bsky.social
Pictures: @sprind-de.bsky.social, Tillmann Franzen