Sascha Schäuble and Tongta Sae-Ong

Sascha Schäuble works as Head of Integrative Data Analysis at the Leibniz-HKI’s Department of Microbiome Dynamics. His former colleague Tongta Sae-Ong was a postdoctoral researcher in the same department until 2025.

What brought you to the Leibniz-HKI and what are you working on now?

Tongta: I came to the Leibniz-HKI to do my PhD with a DAAD scholarship. I finished two years ago and stayed in the Microbiome Dynamics group led by Gianni Panagiotou. Now I work on metagenomics in plants.

Sascha: I already had my PhD when I joined the Leibniz-HKI. I led a TAB-funded project and co-head the INF project in the Collaborative Research Center FungiNet. Now, I work as kind of a data analysis hub – people can bring me their data from all over the institute. I can help with experimental design and together, we preprocess, analyze, and run more advanced statistics or data-driven modeling.

You’re both in bioinformatics. What initially sparked your interest in science?

Tongta: In primary school, I learned how the Earth, moon, and sun cause tides and rain. I was amazed that scientists could explain all that. I wanted to understand the world better. And now I ended up studying something very small. (laughs)

Sascha: Same here – curiosity. Plus, I always loved computers. My first one was in the mid-90s – very basic. When I found out bioinformatics existed, I was fascinated by the combination of the two and here I am.

“As a bioinformatician my projects focus on metagenomics. After studying fungal genomes, I now work on the plant microbiome.” (Tongta)

“As Head of Integrative Data Analysis, I am a bioinformatic hub at the Leibniz-HKI and open for collaboration with all groups on data (pre-)processing, analysis and integration.” (Sascha)

Particularly in the digital world, we have seen huge changes in recent years. From your point of view: What role does AI play in your work – and what are the biggest challenges in bioinformatics today

Sascha: AI can be quite helpful, like for generating or correcting code snippets. Yet it makes stuff up – you have to be able to verify everything. A major challenge in bioinformatics today is the ever-growing size and complexity of data. What used to be considered “big data” – gigabytes – is nothing today. Now we’re talking terabytes and more. Biology might soon even reach the petabyte scale, like what used to be common scales in for example astronomy. As our tools improve, the data becomes more detailed and multidimensional. This makes it crucial to also ask the right questions. Generating data is easy, making sense of it is hard.

Tongta: I use AI sometimes – it helps me work more efficiently. But you still need to ask the right questions to get meaningful answers. Right now, it’s just a tool, not a replacement. Maybe in 10 or 20 years that changes, but not yet. I am not afraid right now.

Can you share a project from your work that you particularly remember?

Tongta: Honestly, every project was interesting to me. I started with fungi during my PhD, now I’m working with plants – it’s all new to me. I don’t know if the results will be high or low impact, but I’m happy to be part of it. Even if it fails, I enjoyed the journey.

Sascha: One highlight was working with Mohammad Mirhakkak, a PhD student in Gianni’s group. We built a modeling framework for the yeast Candida albicans, then extended it to the mold Aspergillus fumigatus. No one had done that at this level before. It’s not perfect, but it was pioneering work – and it was great to work as a team, support and motivate him along the way.

Speaking of it, Sascha, how important is mentoring to you?

Sascha: Very. If you’re not fully present, students lose motivation. A lot of our researchers come from abroad, like Tongta from Thailand or Mohammad from Iran. That’s a huge step in life. I experienced something similar when I went to the U.S. for a while, though the culture gap wasn’t as big. Science is not just about the data. It’s also about the people behind it. That’s why I care a lot about the individuals I work with and their background.

If you weren’t working in bioinformatics, what would you be doing instead?

Tongta: I have about ten plus different dream jobs! Maybe I’d open a small café – with baked goods and a book corner. I even thought about being a librarian and just reading peacefully all day.

Sascha: I can relate. I love nature and being outside – working in a national park, protecting biodiversity, that would be amazing. Or something to do with art. Before deciding to study bioinformatics, I actually also explored the option for a digital art school. Yet, it was not science and besides, super expensive as it was a private college. Who knows, maybe I’d have ended up at Pixar or doing Maya the Honey Bee in 3D now. (laughs)

Is there another scientific field that fascinates you?

Tongta: I used to be more into medical science, and bioinformatics is still connected to that. But now I’m also thinking about food science and food culture – how we eat, how we grow food. I think it’s better to give people good food than good medicine in the end.

Sascha: Food, medicine, environment – it’s all connected. I easily can imagine to work in oceanography or climate science instead. The models we use here may also be applied there, too. Yet, for sure, you can’t do it all in one life and I am happy with bioinformatics.

Tongta, how did you end up choosing Germany?

Tongta: I had two conditions: the project should interest me, and I wanted to be paid. (laughs) I applied to Luxembourg and Norway too, but Leibniz-HKI was the best fit. I had done an internship at the University of Bergen and I liked the European lifestyle – less hectic than Bangkok. There, it took me two hours every morning to get to university, which was exhausting. I wanted something calmer. Bergen was very peaceful, though much colder than I was used to – even in the summer! Compared to that, Jena has better weather for me. In Thailand, the seasons don’t vary much, but in Europe, the dark winters can be tough. My body then gets confused – like, should I sleep now? (laughs)

Was the cultural shift difficult?

Tongta: Not really. Thai people adapt quite well. My family was more worried – like, will I find food I can eat? But I’m simple: my favorite food is eggs, and you can get eggs anywhere! So, it wasn’t a big issue for me. And I did bring something special with me: a big stuffed dog that lies on my bed. I’ve had it since I left home. When I was younger, I always hugged a long pillow, but I couldn’t bring that – so I found a dog-shaped one. It came with me to Norway, and it’s still with me now.

Sascha: What she’s not saying is that she’s one of the most social people in our group. She helps others adjust, too.

Tongta: The group helped a lot. If I had asked people to hang out and they all said no, it would’ve been tough.

“Generating data is easy, making sense of it is hard.” (Sascha)

What do you like to do when you’re not working?

Sascha: Sports play an important part in my life. It’s essential for balance – especially since our work is mostly sitting or standing in front of screens. I try to integrate activity into my daily routine, like biking to work, also in winter (not with snow though). And I love basically all sports involving a ball or racket. I also draw and do arts from time to time, especially with my kids. My little one asks me to draw Christmas trees all the time. (laughs) Drawing is relaxing, but also demanding. Like science, drawing lets you explore unknown territory. You’re only limited by your imagination. That’s what I love about it.

Tongta: For me, sports are similar to my work – I like to try new things and even used to represent my school in competitions. I did different sports every year: tennis, table tennis, taekwondo, that game with the metal ball... what’s it called? Bocce? Here, I’ve tried karate and dancing. I prefer outdoor sports, like swimming in summer. And I really used to be a bookworm as I said – my family even called me that!

What kind of books do you like?

Tongta: I loved Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle and A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket. Sunny was my favorite – the little girl who couldn’t speak but understood everything.

Sascha: I read fantasy, history, sci-fi, also biographies. Scott Kelly’s (US astronomer) autobiography Endurance was nice. Right now I’m into The Sea-Wolf by Jack London. The captain, Wolf Larsen, is a brutal, but intelligent self-taught philosopher. Super complex and fascinating character.

One last question: What are your goals for the future?

Sascha: The ultimate goal is to stay healthy. That’s the foundation for everything else. Balance is important for this – I love gardening with my kids for instance and we all enjoy also these simple things, like picking basil for dinner.

Tongta: Same here! I’m trying to live more sustainably and to include more balance in my life – exercising more, cooking more. It’s not just about time, but also about what we eat and how we live. I’m cooking more Thai food now! I didn’t cook in Thailand back then, but here, when I want to make something, I just call my dad and he talks me through the recipe. (laughs)