Dr Ben Stieglitz

Teaching

Dr Stieglitz is teaching Biochemistry at the Joint Programme with Nanchang University.

Research

Research Interests:

The ubiquitin system in host-pathogen interactions

Dr Benjamin Stieglitz research program is focusing on the structural and functional characterization of host – pathogen interactions. Infected cells activate in response to invading pathogens innate immunity pathways, which ultimately allow the effective clearance of microbial material. This first line of defense is orchestrated by a complex interplay of the ubiquitin conjugating system, which modifies a diverse set of proteins with different types of ubiquitin chains, thereby initiating and modulating cell-autonomous immunity. Pathogens however, retaliate the innate immune response and many of them spend a great deal of effort to tackle the ubiquitylation machinery of the compromised cell. Subversion, manipulation and exploitation of the ubiquitin system are common strategies of evasion and survival for intracellular pathogens.

The lab of Ben Stieglitz is investigating these mechanisms in molecular detail. Using a combination of different approaches such as x-ray crystallography, enzyme kinetics, mass spectrometry and cell biology we aim to understand the functional and structural basis of the ubiquitin system at the interface of host-pathogen interactions. Our findings will help to explore novel therapeutics for the treatment of infections with drug resistant microorganisms, which are urgently required to manage the increasing medical problem of antimicrobial resistance.

Research department

• Biochemistry

Publications

• Browse a list of publications by Benjamin Stieglitz
• View Ben’s Google Scholar citations

Supervision

PhD supervision

• Ibtehal Albursan
• Deepa Bajantri
• Na Liu
• Nasrin Sultana
• Qilong Wu

Postdoctoral supervision

• Dr Cong Han