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Dr. Stefanie Hess

This site extends my official home page at TU Dresden.

Contact details

Phone +49 351 463 36 288
Email stefanie.hess at tu-dresden.de
Visiting address Institute of Microbiology, Room 134, Zellescher Weg 20b, 01217 Dresden

Research interests

My aim is to contribute to a better understanding of the evolution and spread of antibiotic resistance. A more comprehensive knowledge of the respective mechanisms is urgently required if we do not want to be left with untreatable bacterial infections in the near future. My PhD thesis was mainly focused on the dissemination of antibiotic resistant bacteria and resistance genes in sewage and the receiving water bodies (monitoring). More recently, I turned to hypothesis driven lab experiments investigating the evolution and spread of antibiotic resistance in environmental settings.

Publications

An up-to-date list of my publications can be found on google scholar.

Curriculum vitae

Since 2020/3 Junior Group Leader of the group STAR at the Institute of Microbiology, TU Dresden, Germany
2019/9-2020/2 DFG-research fellow at the Institute of Microbiology, TU Dresden, Germany
2018/3-2019/8 DFG-research fellow at the Department of Microbiology, University of Helsinki, Finland
2017/6-2017/7 Visiting scientist in the bioinformatics group of Prof. Kristiansson, Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg, Sweden
2016/7-2018/2 PostDoc at the Institute of Hydrobiology (BMBF-project: HyReKA), TU Dresden, Germany
2015/4-2016/6 PostDoc at the Department of Microbiology (BMBF-project: SchussenAktivplus), University of Applied Sciences Emden/Leer, Germany
2015/3-2015/4 PostDoc at the Institute of Biology for Engineers (BMBF-project: SchussenAktivplus), KIT Karlsruhe, Germany
PhD thesis: Evaluation of advanced sewage treatment technologies in order to minimize the dissemination of antibiotic resistant facultative pathogenic bacteria in receiving water bodies (Download Thesis)
2012/5 - 2015/2 PhD at the Institute of Biology for Engineers (BMBF-project: SchussenAktivplus), KIT Karlsruhe, Germany
Diploma thesis: Antibiotic resistance of fecal indicatores and pathogenic bacteria obatined from sewage and rivers
2007/10 - 2012/04 Studies of Geoecology at KIT Karlsruhe, Germany

Research group STAR - Spread and transfer of antibiotic resistance

Mission

Modern human medicine relies on the availability of effective antibiotic agents. Major surgeries, organ transplants, and the treatment of immune-suppressed patients would be unthinkable in the absence of antimicrobial therapy. The rapid and global spread of antibiotic resistance is therefore alarming. However, there is currently little quantitative knowledge about the driving processes which is urgently needed in order to be able to establish powerful strategies minimizing or even stopping the dissemination of antibiotic resistance. Our overarching aim is to contribute to a deeper mechanistic understanding of the emergence, persistence and dissemination of antibiotic resistance genes and resistant bacteria in the aquatic environment. Therefore, experiments are complemented with mathematical modeling (ODE and ABM). Moreover, statistical models are employed to detect and summarize trend in empirical data. In our experiments it is particularly important to us that the process rates determined in the laboratory correlate with those in the environment. We are interested in how environmental parameters effect vertical and horizontal gene transfer as well as the persistence of antibiotic resistance genes in different compartments (planktonik phase, biofilm).

Current members

Johanna Bode Bachelor student What role does transformation play in the spread of antibiotic resistance in the environment?
Emily Fisher Bachelor student Competition in microbial communities
Henriette Hinz Bachelor student What role does predation play in the spread of antibiotic resistance?

Teaching

Courses

Supervision

Bachelor theses

Bachelor student Year of graduation Topic
Henrike Charlet 2018 Investigation of anthropogenic influences on the occurence of antibiotic-resistant Escherichia coli in the sediment of the small stream Lockwitzbach
Johanna Zech 2020 Effect of green tea on the persistence and spread of antibiotic resistance genes
Henriette Hölscher 2020 Effect of coffee on the persistence and spread of antibiotic resistance genes
Anna Heizmann 2020 Uptake efficiency of free DNA by environmental Escherichia coli isolates
Laura Kolbe 2021 Effect of mouthwash on the persistence and spread of antibiotic resistance genes
Laura Heidler 2021 Isolation and characterization of Escherichia coli isolates from animal feces

Master theses

Master student Year of graduation Topic
Anna Sophia Reichelt 2018 Phenotypic characterization of Escherichia coli isolates of different origin

Exchange students

Name Program, Year Topic
Thao Nguyen Phuong, B.Sc. ERASMUS, 2020 Mobility of genes encoding for resistance against carbapenems