The veterinarian Sophie Kähl was employed at the Institute of Bacteriology and Mycology in the bacteriological research group of Prof. Christoph Baums until mid 2020. Her project is embedded in a joint project that aims to standardise and simplify the examination of the health status of laboratory animals. As part of her doctoral thesis, she was involved in the identification of highly immunogenic mouse proteins. These proteins are used by our cooperation partner AG Hoffmann to develop innovative multiplex diagnostic methods for the reliable detection of viral and bacterial infections in laboratory animals. She had already published her first manuscript at Microbiological Methods in February and is co-author of two further publications of our cooperation partners. In her current publication "Identification of a large repetitive RTX immunogen in a highly virulent Rodentibacter heylii strain" in the international journal Microbes and Infection, she has used an immunoproteomics approach to study a highly virulent Rodentibacter (R.) heylii strain, a pathogen that is commonly found in laboratory mice. A surface-associated immunogen specific for this R. heylii pathotype has been identified, which could be a suitable antigen for serological tests such as ELISAs. Your project was funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).
Since the end of 2018, veterinarian Jakob Lindenhahn has been a research associate at the Institute of Bacteriology and Mycology and is conducting research on the mycotoxin gliotoxin and the dermatophyte Trichophyton verrucosum, the pathogen causing bovine ringworm, in Prof. Wieland Schrödl's group. In his first and current publication "Detection of subtilisin 3 and 6 in skin biopsies of cattle with clinically manifested bovine ringworm", which appeared in the international journal Medical Mycology, he examined the highly pathogenic dermatophyte and zoonotic pathogen Trichophyton verrucosum. This was the first study to analyse skin biopsies of cattle suffering from bovine trichophytia using protein biochemical methods for the presence of the virulence factors subtilisin (Sub) 3 and Sub 6. These are suspected to be involved in the manifestation of the disease. For the first time, the protein expression of Sub3 and Sub6 could be detected in vivo in bioptates of cattle with bovine trichophytia.