Kai Thormann

Kai Thormann is a Professor at the Institute for Microbiology and Molecular Biology, Justus Liebig University Giessen, where he leads an active research laboratory. His lab is situated at the Interdisziplinäres Forschungszentrum (iFZ), a Research Centre for Biosystems, Land Use and Nutrition, and maintains dual affiliation with the SynMikro research center at Philips University Marburg. Giessen is highlighted as Germany's city with the highest student-to-resident ratio, providing a vibrant academic environment.

Research in the Thormann Lab centers on three interconnected domains: bacterial flagella, cell polarity, and phage biology. The lab investigates the bacterial flagellar motor as a molecular nanomachine, focusing on spatiotemporal regulation of assembly and function, including cryo-tomographic analysis of Shewanella putrefaciens motors. In cell polarity studies, they explore mechanisms for precise spatiotemporal organization of cellular processes at bacterial poles, exemplified by the discovery of the FlhF-interacting protein FipA. Their phage biology work examines multi-scale interactions between bacteria and viruses, spanning molecular mechanisms to ecological impacts, with emphasis on how phages influence host physiology and evolution.

The lab has established significant international collaborations, resulting in publications in eLife (novel polarity factor FipA with Ringgaard Lab), Nature Communications (flagella assembly mechanisms with Bange Lab), and experimental evolution studies of Shewanella putrefaciens motility with researchers from York, Marburg, and Bielefeld universities. They also developed the educational resource Mikrokumpel (Microbuddy) to teach children about beneficial bacteria, with all proceeds funding early science education initiatives.