Kerstin Unger

Kerstin Unger is a Researcher at the Friedrich Schiller University Jena, affiliated with the Faculty of Biological Sciences and the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology in Jena, Germany.

Her research challenges conventional views on the role of pathogens by exploring how pathogenicity factors might function as public goods in beneficial plant microbiomes. She investigates the ecological and functional duality of microbial interactions in plant systems.

• Thesis: Pathogenicity factors as public goods - rethinking the role of “pathogens” in beneficial plant microbiomes (PhD since 2021)
• Supervisors: Prof. Dr. Erika Kothe, Matthew T. Agler, Prof. Jonathan Gershenzon
• Affiliated Institution: Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology, Hans-Knöll-Straße 8, 07745 Jena