Gabriele Bierbaum

Gabriele Bierbaum is Associate Professor at the Institut für Medizinische Mikrobiologie, Immunologie und Parasitologie. Her research addresses antibiotic resistance mechanisms with focus on bacterial histidine kinases that sense environmental signals including antibiotics.

Projects include: 1) Evolution of resistance through kinase-mediated regulation, 2) Inhibitor development targeting bacterial kinases, 3) Environmental dissemination of resistant bacteria, and 4) Microbiome analysis in taphonomic studies.

Her group has characterized zinc-binding regulation of essential WalK histidine kinase in Staphylococcus aureus and analyzed carbapenem-resistant bacteria dissemination from hospital wastewater into the environment.

• Kinase-mediated antibiotic resistance
• Environmental spread of resistant pathogens
• Antimicrobial inhibitor development