Curriculum vitae

Main Research Areas
  • Molecular links between metabolism and virulence in pathogenic Candida spp.
  • Role of intra and inter-species metabolic signals in establishment of microbial communities
  • Candidiasis infection models
Professional Career
since 2016 JRG leader, JRG Host Fungal Interfaces, ZIK Septomics, Friedrich Schiller University Jena
2014-2016 Assistant Professor-Research, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, TX, USA
2012-2016 Adjunct Faculty, University of Houston-Downtown, Houston, TX, USA
2013-2014 Senior Research Associate, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, TX, USA
2007-2013 Post-doctoral fellow, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, TX, USA
2007 Ph.D., State University of New York at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY, USA
2006-2007 Research Assistant (Postdoc), Ottawa Health Research institute, Centre for Cancer Research, Ottawa, ON, Canada
2002-2006 Research Assistant, State University of New York at Buffalo, Department of Oral Biology, Buffalo, NY, USA
2004 M.Sc., State University of New York at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY, USA
2004 Research Assistant, State University of New York at Buffalo, Physiology Department Buffalo, NY, USA
2001 M.Sc., Sofia University, Sofia, Bulgaria
Awards · Appointments · Scientific Activities
since 2021 Editor, Microbiology Spectrum
since 2018 Editor, Frontiers in Microbiology
2014 Judge Travel Grant, Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students, San Antonio, TX, USA
2014 ISHAM Young Fellow Travel Award, American society for Microbiology, 12th ASM Conference on Candida and Candidiasis, New Orleans, LA, USA
2011 Office of the Dean of McGovern Medical School Postdoctoral Fellow Travel Grant, University of Texas Health Science Center Houston, Houston, TX, USA

Publications

Brandt P*, Mirhakkak MH*, Wagner L, Driesch D, Möslinger A, Fänder P, Schäuble S, Panagiotou G, Vylkova S# (2023) High-throughput profiling of Candida auris isolates reveals clade-specific metabolic differences. Microbiol Spectr 11(3), e0049823.
Garbe E, Thielemann N, Hohner S, Kumar A, Vylkova S, Kurzai O, Martin R (2023) Functional analysis of the Candida albicans ECE1 Promoter. Microbiol Spectr 11(2), e0025323.
Häder A#, Schäuble S#, Gehlen J, Thielemann N, Buerfent BC, Schüller V, Hess T, Wolf T, Schröder J, Weber M, Hünniger K, Löffler J, Vylkova S, Panagiotou G, Schumacher J, Kurzai O (2023) Pathogen-specific innate immune response patterns are distinctly affected by genetic diversity. Nat Commun 14(1), 3239.
Rebai Y, Wagner L, Gnaien M, Hammer ML, Kapitan M, Niemiec MJ, Mami W, Mosbah A, Messadi E, Mardassi H, Vylkova S, Jacobsen ID, Znaidi S# (2023) Escherichia coli nissle 1917 antagonizes Candida albicans growth and protects intestinal cells from C. albicans-mediated damage. Microorganisms 11(8), 1929.
Alonso-Roman R, Last A, Mirhakkak MH, Sprague JL, Möller L, Großmann P, Graf K, Gratz R, Mogavero S, Vylkova S, Panagiotou G, Schäuble S, Hube B, Gresnigt MS (2022) Lactobacillus rhamnosus colonisation antagonizes Candida albicans by forcing metabolic adaptations that compromise pathogenicity. Nat Commun 13(1), 3192.
Böttcher B, Driesch D, Krüger T, Garbe E, Gerwien F, Kniemeyer O, Brakhage AA, Vylkova S (2022) Impaired amino acid uptake leads to global metabolic imbalance of Candida albicans biofilms. NPJ Biofilms Microbiomes 8(1), 78.
Brandt P, Gerwien F, Wagner L, Krüger T, Ramírez-Zavala B, Mirhakkak MH, Schäuble S, Kniemeyer O, Panagiotou G, Brakhage AA, Morschhäuser J, Vylkova S (2022) Candida albicans SR-like protein kinases regulate different cellular processes: Sky1 is involved in control of ion homeostasis, while Sky2 is important for dipeptide utilization. Front Cell Infect Microbiol 12, 850531.
Garbe E, Gerwien F, Driesch D, Müller T, Böttcher B, Gräler M, Vylkova S (2022) Systematic metabolic profiling identifies de novo sphingolipid synthesis as hypha associated and essential for Candida albicans filamentation. mSystems 7(6), e0053922.
Garbe E, Miramón P, Gerwien F, Ueberschaar N, Hansske-Braun L, Brandt P, Böttcher B, Lorenz M, Vylkova S (2022) GNP2 encodes a high-specificity proline permease in Candida albicans. mBio 13(1), e0314221.
Mirhakkak M, Schäuble S, Klassert T, Brunke S, Brandt P, Loos D, Uribe R, de Oliveira Lino FS, Ni Y, Vylkova S, Slevogt H, Hube B, Weiss G, Sommer M, Panagiotou G# (2021) Metabolic modeling predicts specific gut bacteria as key determinants for Candida albicans colonization levels. ISME J 15(5), 1257-1270.

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