Stephan Heeb
Stephan Heeb is a molecular microbiologist with more than 20 years of experience in developing novel cloning vectors and expression systems for use in Gram-negative bacteria of agronomical, industrial and clinical importance.
His research interests are focused on bacterial secondary metabolism and pathogen virulence, notably at the post-transcriptional level of gene expression, an area in which his research has contributed to the unravelling of several novel mechanisms and signal transduction pathways. As these important biological mechanisms have the potential to be exploited to control deleterious microorganisms or to enhance the desirable characteristics of useful bacteria, over the years he has also established numerous collaborations with world experts in genomic, transcriptomic, bioinformatics and synthetic biology partners, with whom he contributes with his expertise to the development of novel molecular biology tools and the refinement of genetic regulatory circuits. In the context of the Synthetic Biology Research Centre, Dr Heeb is presently involved in the design and development of novel broad-host-range, high-throughput genome editing tools, in the refinement of genetic elements to be implanted in bacterial chassis to exploit metabolic pathways, as well as in novel polymer-based sequestration approaches to control the composition of mixed bacterial populations in fermenters.