Dr. Stefanie Hess
This site extends my official home page at TU Dresden.
Contact details
| Phone | +49 351 463 36 288 |
| 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
- Practical course "Applied and synthetic microbiology" (M23 - Master Biology, Winter semester, German)
- Practical course "Basic methods in microbiology" (MAT - diploma programme Food Chemistry, Summer semester, German)
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 |