Sergey Zotchev

Sergey Zotchev is a Professor in the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences at the Faculty of Life Sciences. His research focuses on microbial secondary metabolite biosynthesis, particularly in Streptomyces species. Key areas include natural product discovery from extremophiles, genome mining, and metabolic engineering to activate silent biosynthetic pathways. He has pioneered projects on drug discovery from endophytic bacteria, marine actinomycetes, and Antarctic microbes. Over 100 peer-reviewed publications and 6 active research grants highlight his contributions to antimicrobial development and microbial genomics.

Notable projects include

• Anti-Infectives Drug Discovery (2025–2029)
• Deciphering the biosynthesis of bioactive meroterpenoids (2023–2027)
• New bioactive natural products via forced evolution (2022–2026)

Research interests integrate microbial genetics, synthetic biology, and cheminformatics to address global health challenges like drug-resistant pathogens. His work aligns with SDG 3 (Good Health) through discovery of novel antibiotics and SDG 15 (Life on Land) via studies on alpine plant microbiomes.

Recent talks include presentations on actinomycete drug discovery and Antarctic bacterial biodiversity. Collaborations span institutions worldwide, emphasizing transdisciplinary approaches to natural product science.