Volker Winstel studied Biology at the Universities of Karlsruhe and T\u00fcbingen (Germany), where he obtained his Diploma in 2010. He then joined the laboratory of Professor Dr. Andreas Peschel at the Interfaculty Institute of Microbiology and Infection Medicine T\u00fcbingen (IMIT), where he analyzed the role of wall teichoic acid glycosylation in Gram-positive pathogens as part of his Ph.D. thesis work. Subsequent postdoctoral studies in the same group and in the laboratory of Professor Dr. Olaf Schneewind at the University of Chicago (USA) focused on the pathogenesis of clinically relevant bacterial pathogens such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus<\/em> (MRSA) and the dissection of immuno-modulatory strategies that enable microbial invasion and dissemination of disease. Before his appointment as a Professor at the Justus-Liebig-University of Giessen in 2024, he had led an independent Research Group at TWINCORE (Centre for Experimental and Clinical Infection Research) and the Institute of Medical Microbiology and Hospital Epidemiology at Hannover Medical School (Hannover, Germany). His scientific work is funded by several grants, and it is published in journals such as Nature Communications<\/em>, Nature Microbiology<\/em>, Nature Protocols<\/em>, PNAS<\/em>, and PLoS Pathogens<\/em>.<\/p>\n Professor Winstel\u2019s work at the Justus-Liebig-University of Giessen continues to focus on hospital- and community-acquired infections caused by MRSA and other antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Specifically, his team applies microbiological, genetic, biochemical, and molecular approaches as well as disease-mimicking tissue culture systems and in vivo<\/em> models to investigate the impact of microbial biomolecules on infectious diseases and pathogen evolution in complex microenvironments. With the help of CRISPR\/Cas9 mutagenesis and organoid models, his group is also studying the contribution of multiple host factors and associated single nucleotide polymorphisms toward S. aureus<\/em> pathogenesis and disease severity in hospitalized and critically ill patients. Since S. aureus<\/em> is one of the most frequent causes of ventilator-associated and community-acquired pneumonia, further research in the Winstel laboratory aims at gaining a more precise understanding of how pathogenic staphylococci interfere with the human host during acute and chronic infections of the respiratory tract, with the overall goal to develop new prophylactic agents and unique antimicrobial therapies.<\/p>\n Professor Dr. rer. nat. Volker Winstel<\/strong> Schubertstr. 81 Tel: +49 641 99 46401<\/p>\nContact<\/h4>\n
\nDepartment of Medicine V, Internal Medicine, Infectious Diseases and Infection Control
\nSection Translational Microbiology and Immunopathology of Infections
\nGerman Center for Infection Research (DZIF), Partner Site Giessen-Marburg-Langen
\nJustus-Liebig University Giessen, Giessen, Germany<\/p>\n
\n35392 Giessen, Germany<\/p>\n