Human and Animal Relationships

Axel A. Brakhage earned a Master's degree in Biology with the major subject Microbiology at the University of Münster. During his PhD he spent a year at the Institut de Biologie Physico-Chimique in Paris. After obtaining a PhD on the regulation of the phenylalanyl-tRNA synthetase in Bacillus subtilis, he joined the Biotechnology Department of BASF as a staff scientist. He then started work on the molecular biology of filamentous fungi as a postdoctoral student at the University of Sheffield (UK). After two years, he became an Assistant Professor at the Institute of Genetics and Microbiology at the University of Munich where he earned his habilitation in Microbiology. In 1998 he became Associate Professor at the Darmstadt University of Technology. During 2001-2004 he was chair and Full Professor of Microbiology at the University of Hanover. From 2004 he has held a chair of Microbiology and Molecular Biology at the Friedrich Schiller University of Jena. In 2005 he became head of the Department of Molecular and Applied Microbiology at the Leibniz Institute of Natural Product Research and Infection Biology - Hans-Knoell-Institute (Leibniz-HKI) - in Jena and, simultaneously, he serves as the Director of the Institute. He is a member of several scientific boards and a Vice President of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft. In addition, he is Speaker of the DFG Collaborative Research Centre/Transregio 124 "FungiNet", was founding speaker of the cluster of excellence "Balance of the Microverse" and serves on the editorial boards of several journals. He has received the Seeliger-Award for Bacteriology and Mycology (2006) and the Main Research Award of the German Society for Hygiene und Microbiology (DGHM). In addition, he is elected member of the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina and of both the American and European Academy of Microbiology. His research addresses two main areas: (1) pathobiology of the most important airborne fungal pathogen Aspergillus fumigatus. (2) molecular regulation of the biosynthesis of fungal secondary metabolites with emphasis on microbial communication and shaping of microbiomes.

Olaf Kniemeyer studied biology with the major subject Microbiology at the University of Bremen. He completed his Master thesis (Diplom) about anaerobic cholesterol degradation in 1998.
He performed his dissertation and a short postdoctoral time under the supervision of Friedrich Widdel at the Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology in Bremen in the field of anaerobic hydrocarbon degradation. After a short stay as visiting scientist at the University of Sheffield (UK) in the lab of Geoffrey Turner he joined the laboratory of Axel A. Brakhage at the Leibniz University of Hanover in 2003. Since 2005, he is scientific co-worker at the Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology - Hans-Knoell-Institute (HKI) in Jena and since 2009 Deputy Head of the Department of Molecular and Applied Microbiology of Axel Brakhage. His work focuses on the application of proteomics methods to study the human-pathogenic fungus Aspergillus fumigatus and other Aspergilli. Olaf Kniemeyer serves on the editorial board of several journals and has received funding for his research from funding agencies such as DFG, GIF and BMBF.

Peter F. Zipfel studied Biology and Biochemistry with specialization in Cellular Biology. In 1984 he graduated from the University in Bremen. He performed his postdoctoral studies at the Laboratory of Immunoregulation at the NIAID, National Institutes of Health in Bethesda (Md., USA). Then he moved to the Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine in Hamburg where he headed a junior research group. He received his Habilitation and venia legendi from the University of Hamburg in 1993 in the areas of Immunology and Genetics. In 2000 he was appointed University Professor for Infection Biology at the Friedrich Schiller University in Jena and at the same time chairman of the Department of Infection Biology at the Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology - Hans-Knoell-Institute (HKI) - in Jena. He is author of over 400 research papers, book chapters and review articles, holds several patents and has edited a book on the role of the complement system in human renal diseases. He has received the Research Price for Basic Science from the State of Thueringen (2004), the "Heinz-Spitzbart Preis" of the European Society for Infectious Diseases in Obstetrics and Gyneacology (ESIDOG; 2007), the EFIS Lecture Award of the European Federation of Immunological Societies (2008), the Main Research Award of the German Society of Hygiene and Microbiology (DGHM) in 2009. In addition, he received the Galenus von Pergamon Award in Basic Sciences (2014) and the Medal in Gold for life-time research achievements from the European Complement Network, ECN (2023). His scientific interests include: (1) understanding the role of the complement system as a part of the innate immune system in health and disease, (2) how human pathogenic fungi such as Candida albicans and Aspergillus fumigatus and numerous other pathogens utilize host complement components for immune evasion.

Axel A. Brakhage 在明斯特大學獲得生物學碩士學位，主修微生物學。在攻讀博士學位期間，他在巴黎的物理化學生物學研究所度過了一年。獲得關於 Bacillus subtilis 中苯丙氨酸-tRNA 合成酶調控的博士學位後，他加入了 BASF 的生物技術部門，擔任研究科學家。隨後，他作為博士後研究員在英國謝菲爾德大學開始研究絲狀真菌的分子生物學。兩年後，他成為慕尼黑大學遺傳學與微生物學研究所的助理教授，並在微生物學領域獲得了資格認證（habilitation）。1998年，他成為達姆施塔特工業大學的副教授。在2001年至2004年間，他擔任漢諾威大學微生物學的系主任及全職教授。自2004年起，他在耶拿的弗里德里希·席勒大學擔任微生物學與分子生物學的教授。2005年，他成為耶拿萊布尼茨自然產品研究與感染生物學研究所（Hans-Knoell-Institute，Leibniz-HKI）分子與應用微生物學部門的負責人，同時擔任該研究所的主任。他是多個科學委員會的成員，也是德國研究基金會（Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft）的副總裁。此外，他是 DFG 協作研究中心/跨區域 124 'FungiNet' 的發言人，曾是卓越集群 'Balance of the Microverse' 的創始發言人，並在多本期刊的編輯委員會中任職。他曾獲得 2006 年的 Seeliger 獎（細菌學和真菌學）及德國衛生與微生物學會（DGHM）的主要研究獎。此外，他是德國科學院 Leopoldina 的選舉成員，以及美國和歐洲微生物學院的成員。他的研究主要集中在兩個領域：（1）最重要的空氣傳播真菌病原體 Aspergillus fumigatus 的病理生物學；（2）真菌次級代謝物生物合成的分子調控，重點在於微生物間的通訊及微生物群的形成。

Olaf Kniemeyer 在不來梅大學學習生物學，主修微生物學。他於1998年完成了有關厭氧膽固醇降解的碩士論文（Diplom）。他在不來梅的馬克斯·普朗克地球微生物學研究所，在 Friedrich Widdel 的指導下進行了博士論文及短期的博士後研究，專注於厭氧碳氫化合物降解。在英國謝菲爾德大學的 Geoffrey Turner 實驗室短暫訪問後，他於2003年加入漢諾威大學 Axel A. Brakhage 的實驗室。自2005年以來，他在耶拿的萊布尼茨自然產品研究與感染生物學研究所（Hans-Knoell-Institute，HKI）擔任科學研究人員，自2009年起擔任 Axel Brakhage 的分子與應用微生物學部門副主任。他的工作重點是應用蛋白質組學方法研究人類病原真菌 Aspergillus fumigatus 及其他 Aspergilli。Olaf Kniemeyer 參與多本期刊的編輯委員會，並獲得 DFG、GIF 和 BMBF 等資助機構的研究資助。

Peter F. Zipfel 學習生物學和生物化學，專攻細胞生物學。他於1984年從不來梅大學畢業。他在美國國立衛生研究院（NIAID）免疫調節實驗室進行博士後研究。隨後，他轉到漢堡的伯恩哈德·諾赫特熱帶醫學研究所，負責一個初級研究小組。他於1993年在漢堡大學獲得免疫學和遺傳學領域的資格認證（habilitation）及 venia legendi。2000年，他被任命為大學教授。