Axel A. Brakhage

Prof. Dr. Axel A. Brakhage

Director Molecular and Applied Microbiology · Head of Department Transfer Group Antiinfectives · Acting head +49 3641 532-1001 axel.brakhage@leibniz-hki.de

Curriculum vitae

Main Research Areas
  • Infection biology of human pathogenic fungi
  • Molecular biotechnology / synthetic biotechnology of microbial compounds
  • Microbial communication
  • Eukaryotic gene regulation / transcription factors
Professional Career
since 2005  Scientific Director, Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology – Hans Knöll Institute (Leibniz-HKI) Jena
since 2005 Head of Department Molecular and Applied Microbiology, Leibniz-HKI Jena
since 2004 Professor (C4/W3) and chair in microbiology and molecular biology, Institute for Microbiology, Friedrich Schiller University Jena
2001-2004 Professor (C4) and chair in microbiology, Leibniz University Hanover
1998-2001 Professor (C3) in microbiology, Technical University Darmstadt
1996 Habilitation in microbiology, Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich
1992-1998 Research assistant (C1), Institute for Genetics and Microbiology, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich
1990-1992 Research assistant, The University of Sheffield, UK, funded through postdoc grants of the DFG
1989-1990 Group head, Biotechnology, BASF AG, Ludwigshafen
1989 Dr. rer. nat. in microbiology, „summa cum laude“ University Münster and Institut de Biologie Physico-Chimique (IBPC) Paris
1985 Studies in biology/chemistry, diploma in biology at the Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster
Awards · Appointments · Scientific Activities
2024 Ferdinand Cohn-Medal of the German Society for Hygiene and Microbiology (DGHM)
2023 Member of the FWF Cluster of Excellence Jury, Vienna, AUT
since 2020 Vice President of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation)
since 2020 Head of section 13 "Microbiology and Immunology" and Senator in the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina
since 2020 Founding member and Board of Directors, Leibniz Center for Photonics in Infection Research gGmbH (LPI), Jena
since 2020 Founding member and Board of Directors "Incate" Incubator for Antibacterial Therapies in Europe, Basel, CH
since 2019 Member of the scientific panel of the Leibniz Institute of Virology (LIV), Hamburg
since 2019 Member of the foundation board of the Leibniz Institute for Immunotherapy (LIT), Regensburg
2019-2022 Spokesperson of the Excellence Cluster "Balance of the Microverse" (DFG)
since 2018 Member of the scientific panel of the Interdisciplinary Center for Clinical Research (IZKF), Münster
since 2017 Member of the Steering Committee DZIF/TTU Novel Antibiotics
since 2017 Elected member of the American Academy of Microbiology
since 2017 Member of the scientific panel of the Robert Koch Foundation (RKS), Berlin
since 2017 Member of the scientific panel of the MRC Medical Mycology Centre, Exeter, UK
since 2016 Member of the Clusterboard RIS3 Thüringen
since 2016 Member of the scientific panel of the Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology (MPIIB), Berlin
2016-2020 Spokesperson of the Leibniz Research Cluster “Biotechnologie 2020+“
since 2015 Elected member of the European Academy of Microbiology
since 2015 Honorary member of the Deutschsprachige Mykologische Gesellschaft e.V. (DMykG)
2014 Main Research Award of the German Society for Hygiene and Microbiology (DGHM)
since 2013 Spokesperson of the SFB/Transregio 124 FungiNet (DFG)
2013-2020 Deputy representative of the Leibniz-Research-Alliance Compounds and Biotechnology
since 2013 Board member of the research campus “InfectoGnostics” (BMBF)
since 2012 Spokesperson of the consortium “InfectControl 2020 – New Anti-infection Strategies – Science • Society • Economy” in the BMBF-programme “Zwanzig 20 – Partnership for Innovation”
2012-2016 Representative of the DFG-Professional Council 204 Microbiology, Immunology, Virology
2010-2012 Board member of the Integriertes Forschungs- und Behandlungszentrum “Center for Sepsis Control and Care” (CSCC) at the University Hospital Jena
2010-2018 Authorised commissioner of the Leibniz Association for Biotechnology
2010-2018 Member of the scientific panel of the Helmholtz-Centre for Infection Research (HZI), Braunschweig
2010-2018 Member of the scientific panel of the Institute for Pharmaceutical Research (HIPS), Saarbrücken
2010-2020 Member of the scientific panel of the Research Centre Borstel, Borstel
2010-2017 Member of the scientific panel of the Leibniz Institute of Plant Biochemistry (IPB), Halle
2009-2017 Supervisory Board Leibniz-Institute DSMZ – German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures, Braunschweig
2009-2016 Member of the scientific panel of the Research Center for Infectious Diseases (ZINF), Würzburg
2009-2011 President of the Vereinigung für Allgemeine und Angewandte Mikrobiologie (VAAM)
2008-2019 Member of the university council (reappointment 2011+2015) at the Friedrich Schiller University Jena
2008-2016 Member of the DFG-Professional Council 204 Microbiology, Immunology, Virology
2008 Appointed member of the Nationale Akademie der Wissenschaften, Leopoldina
2007-2016 Liaison Officer for scientific misconduct at the FSU Jena
2007-2020 Spokesperson of the excellence graduate school „Jena School for Microbial Communication” (JSMC)
2006-2008 Spokesperson of the graduate school "International Leibniz Research School (ILRS) for microbial and biomolecular interactions“
2006 Heinz-Seeliger award for infection biology
since 2005 Scientific panel "Goettinger Center for Molecular Bio/Sciences" (GZMB), Georg-August-University Göttingen
2005-2022 Member of the Faculty Council of the Faculty of Biological Sciences, Friedrich Schiller University Jena
2004-2010 Representative of the DFG Priority Programme 1160 "Colonisation and Infection by Human-pathogenic Fungi"
2003-2010 Scientific panel „Center for Microbial Biotechnology“ DTU Copenhagen, Denmark
2003-2009 Member in the programme committee of the DFG Priority Programme 1152 "Evolution of Metabolic Diversity"
2003-2004 Dean, faculty biology, Leibniz-University Hanover
2002-2006,
2009-2020		 Member of the scientific panel of the Interdisciplinary Center for Clinical Research (IZKF), Würzburg
since 1998 Editor of several magazines
since 1995 Principal investigator in EU projects

Topics

Publications

de Vries RP, Riley R, Wiebenga A, Aguilar-Osorio G, Amillis S, Uchima CA, Anderluh G, Asadollahi M, Askin M, Barry K, Battaglia E, Bayram Ö, Benocci T, Braus-Stromeyer SA, Caldana C, Cánovas D, Cerqueira GC, Chen F, Chen W, Choi C, Clum A, Dos Santos RA, Damásio AR, Diallinas G, Emri T, Fekete E, Flipphi M, Freyberg S, Gallo A, Gournas C, Habgood R, Hainaut M, Harispe ML, Henrissat B, Hildén KS, Hope R, Hossain A, Karabika E, Karaffa L, Karányi Z, Kraševec N, Kuo A, Kusch H, LaButti K, Lagendijk EL, Lapidus A, Levasseur A, Lindquist E, Lipzen A, Logrieco AF, MacCabe A, Mäkelä MR, Malavazi I, Melin P, Meyer V, Mielnichuk N, Miskei M, Molnár ÁP, Mulé G, Ngan CY, Orejas M, Orosz E, Ouedraogo JP, Overkamp KM, Park HS, Perrone G, Piumi F, Punt PJ, Ram AF, Ramón A, Rauscher S, Record E, Riaño-Pachón DM, Robert V, Röhrig J, Ruller R, Salamov A, Salih NS, Samson RA, Sándor E, Sanguinetti M, Schütze T, Sepčić K, Shelest E, Sherlock G, Sophianopoulou V, Squina FM, Sun H, Susca A, Todd RB, Tsang A, Unkles SE, van de Wiele N, van Rossen-Uffink D, Oliveira JV, Vesth TC, Visser J, Yu JH, Zhou M, Andersen MR, Archer DB, Baker SE, Benoit I, Brakhage AA, Braus GH, Fischer R, Frisvad JC, Goldman GH, Houbraken J, Oakley B, Pócsi I, Scazzocchio C, Seiboth B, vanKuyk PA, Wortman J, Dyer PS, Grigoriev IV (2017) Comparative genomics reveals high biological diversity and specific adaptations in the industrially and medically important fungal genus Aspergillus. Genome Biol 18(1), 28.
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PubMed Open Access
Hortschansky P, Haas H, Huber EM, Groll M, Brakhage AA (2017) The CCAAT-binding complex (CBC) in Aspergillus species. Biochim Biophys Acta 1860(5), 560-570. (Review)
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PubMed
Johns A†, Scharf DH†, Gsaller F, Schmidt H, Heinekamp T, Straßburger M, Oliver JD, Birch M, Beckmann N, Dobb KS, Gilsenan J, Rash B, Bignell E, Brakhage AA*, Bromley MJ* †shared first authors, *corresponding authors (2017) A nonredundant phosphopantetheinyl transferase, PptA, is a novel antifungal target that directs secondary metabolite, siderophore, and lysine biosynthesis in Aspergillus fumigatus and is critical for pathogenicity. MBio 8(4), e01504-e01516.
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PubMed
Krieg R, Jortzik E, Goetz AA, Blandin S, Wittlin S, Elhabiri M, Rahbari M, Nuryyeva S, Voigt K, Dahse HM, Brakhage A, Beckmann S, Quack T, Grevelding CG, Pinkerton AB, Schönecker B, Burrows J, Davioud-Charvet E, Rahlfs S, Becker K (2017) Arylmethylamino steroids as antiparasitic agents. Nat Commun 8, 14478.
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PubMed
Manfiolli AO, de Castro PA, Dos Reis TF, Dolan S, Doyle S, Jones G, Riaño Pachón DM, Ulaş M, Noble LM, Mattern DJ, Brakhage AA, Valiante V, Silva-Rocha R, Bayram O, Goldman GH (2017) Aspergillus fumigatus protein phosphatase PpzA is involved in iron assimilation, secondary metabolite production, and virulence. Cell Microbiol 19(12),
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PubMed
Marion A, Groll M, Scharf DH, Scherlach K, Glaser M, Sievers H, Schuster M, Hertweck C, Brakhage AA, Antes I, Huber EM (2017) Gliotoxin Biosynthesis: Structure, Mechanism, and Metal Promiscuity of Carboxypeptidase GliJ. ACS Chem Biol 12(7), 1874-1882.
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PubMed
Mattern DJ, Valiante V, Horn F, Petzke L, Brakhage AA (2017) Rewiring of the Austinoid Biosynthetic Pathway in Filamentous Fungi. ACS Chem Biol 12(12), 2927-2933.
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PubMed
Pohlers S, Martin R, Krüger T, Hellwig D, Hänel F, Kniemeyer O, Saluz HP, Van Dijck, Ernst JF, Brakhage A, Mühlschlegel FA, Kurzai O (2017) Lipid signaling via Pkh1/2 regulates fungal CO2 sensing through the kinase Sch9. mBio 8(1), e02211-16.
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PubMed
Seddigh P, Bracht T, Molinier-Frenkel V, Castellano F, Kniemeyer O, Schuster M, Weski J, Hasenberg A, Kraus A, Poschet G, Hager T, Theegarten D, Opitz CA, Brakhage AA, Sitek B, Hasenberg M, Gunzer M (2017) Quantitative Analysis of Proteome Modulations in Alveolar Epithelial Type II Cells in Response to Pulmonary Aspergillus fumigatus Infection. Mol Cell Proteomics 16(12), 2184-2198.
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PubMed
Shekhova E, Kniemeyer O, Brakhage AA (2017) Induction of Mitochondrial Reactive Oxygen Species Production by Itraconazole, Terbinafine, and Amphotericin B as a Mode of Action against Aspergillus fumigatus. Antimicrob Agents Chemother 61(11), e00978-17.
Details
PubMed

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