Prof. Li Deng, Technical University of Munich & Helmholtz Munich

Li Deng will give a talk:

Functional roles of viruses: viral mining and applications

Prof. Dr. Li Deng is the chair of ‘Prevention of Microbial Diseases’ at the Technical University of Munich, as well as the Helmholtz Munich. She focuses on using integrative approaches combining single-cell technologies, culture-independent techniques, multi-omics, and machine learning to understand the underlying mechanisms of phage-host interactions and their impact on the human host.
Prof. Dr. Li Deng graduated in the field of Microbiology at the University of Bristol, UK. After her post-doctoral training in the US, she joined Helmholtz Munich as the head of DFG Emmy Noether Junior group, and as head of Helmholtz Young Investigator group. Her research was further recognized by the ERC starting grant, multiple international, EU and German consortium grants and prizes, including the Helmholtz excellent female professor prize in 2022.
The lab of Prof. Dr. Li Deng studies phage-host interactions to develop novel phage-based therapeutics for i) targeting drug-resistant bacteria and ii) preventing or iii) ameliorating severity in dysbiosis associated diseases and conditions, such as inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), colorectal cancer (CRC), graft versus host disease (GVHD), allergy, and much more by manipulating the human microbiota.
To facilitate the acceptance of phage therapy, which uses phages to target pathogenic bacteria, in Germany, her lab has developed highly efficient phage cocktails against multiple critical multiresistant bacteria, such as Acinetobacter baumanii, Pseudomonas aeroginosa, Klebsiella pneumonia, and Staphylococcus aureus. In addition, her lab promotes increasing collaborations between scientists and physicians toward defining a roadmap for future translational phage research in Germany.

Host

Prof. Schmitz-Streit