Göttingen Graduate Center for Neurosciences, Biophysics, and Molecular Biosciences

Groß, Uwe, Prof. Dr.

Professor of Medical Microbiology


  • M.D., University of Hamburg 1987
  • Postdoctoral fellow, UC Los Angeles, California, 1987 - 1989
  • Professor of Medical Parasitology, University of Würzburg 1998/1999
  • Appointed 1999 as head of the Department of Medical Microbiology, University of Göttingen




Major Research Interests

The Institute of Medical Microbiology is trying to understand infectious diseases by linking applied and basic sciences, e.g. aspects of epidemiology and pathogenesis. In regards to bacteriology, we are focusing on the intestinal pathogens Campylobacter jejuni and Clostridium difficile, where we use molecular approaches to identify and characterize virulence-associated factors, such as those involved in invasion (Campylobacter) or in spore regulation (Clostridium). In addition, the epidemiology of both pathogens in different regions and environments is under investigation.

Fungal infections caused by Candida and Aspergillus is a second major research topic. Like in bacterial infections, antimicrobial resistances are an emerging threat in mycology as well. Therefore, we focus on analyzing the epidemiology and the mechanisms of antifungal resistances.

The protozoan parasite Toxoplasma gondii usually causes asymptomatic infections in immunocompetent adults leading to lifelong persistence especially in the brain and in muscle tissue. Infections are especially dangerous during pregnancy and in immuno-compromised individuals (i. e. patients suffering from AIDS). We are interested in the epidemiology of toxoplasmosis as well as in the cross-talk between the parasite and its host cell on a molecular level. Here, we investigate how the parasite (i) modulates the host cell capacity for MHC-restricted antigen presentation and (ii) inhibits apoptosis of the infected cell. Both mechanisms allow intracellular persistence.

Recently, we also started to develop the theme Global Health in regards to infectious deiseases and cooperate with scientists from Ghana, Kenya, and Tanzania
In addition, we are appointed the National Reference Center for Systemic Mycoses. In this respect, we are investigating fungal factors and mechanisms that are involved in pathogenesis of mycoses; i.e. cell wall structure and differentiation processes.





Homepage Department/Research Group

http://www.bakteriologie.uni-goettingen.de/



Selected Recent Publications


  • Emele M F, Joppe F M, Riedel T, Overmann J, Rupnik M, Cooper P, Lia Kusumawati R, Laukien F, Zimmermann O, Bohne W, Groß U, Bader O, Zautner A E (2019) Proteotyping of Clostridioides difficile as alternate typing method to ribotyping is able to differentiate the ribotype 027 from other ribotypes. Frontiers Microbiol., in press.
  • Acar İ E, Saçar Demirci MD, Groß U*, Allmer J* (2018) The Expressed MicroRNA-mRNA Interactions of Toxoplasma gondii. Front Microbiol Jan 4;8:2630.
  • Seugendo M, Janssen I, Lang V, Hasibuan I, Bohne W, Cooper P, Daniel R, Gunka K, Kusumawati R L, Mshana S E, von Müller L, Okamo B, Ortlepp J R, Overmann J, Riedel T, Rupnik M, Zimmermann O, Groß U (2018) Prevalence and strain characterization of Clostridioides (Clostridium) difficile in representative regions of Germany, Ghana, Tanzania and Indonesia – a comparative multi-center cross-sectional study. Frontiers Microbiol.
  • Schneider D, Thürmer A, Gollnow K, Lugert R, Gunka K, Groß U*, Daniel R* (2017) Gut bacterial communities of diarrheic patients with indications of Clostridioides difficile infection. Sci Data Oct 17;4:170152.
  • Zautner A E, Bunk B, Pfeifer Y, Spröer C, Reichard U, Eiffert H, Scheithauer S, Groß U, Overmann J, Bohne W (2017) Monitoring microevolution of OXA-48- producing Klebsiella pneumoniae ST147 in a hospital setting by SMRT sequencing. J Antimicrob Chemother Oct 1;72(10):2737-2744.
  • Mössner R, Diering N, Bader O, Forkel S, Overbeck T, Groß U, Grimbacher B, Schön MP, Buhl T (2016) Ruxolitinib induces interleukin 17 and ameliorates chronic mucocutaneous candidiasis caused by STAT1 gain-of-function mutation. Clin Infect Dis 62: 951-3
  • Zautner AE, Goldschmidt AM, Thürmer A, Schuldes J, Bader O, Lugert R, Groß U, Stingl K, Salinas G, Lingner T (2015) SMRT sequencing of the Campylobacter coli BfR-CA-9557 genome sequence reveals unique methylation motifs. BMC Genomics 16: 1088
  • Zautner AE, Masanta WO, Weig M, Groß U, Bader O (2015) Mass spectrometry- based phyloproteomics (MSPP): A novel microbial typing method. Sci Rep 5: 13431
  • Herrmann DC, Maksimov P, Hotop A, Groß U, Däubener W, Liesenfeld O, Pleyer U, Conraths FJ, Schares G (2014) Genotyping of samples from German patients with ocular, cerebral and systemic toxoplasmosis reveals a predominance of Toxoplasma gondii type II. Int J Med Microbiol 304: 911- 916
  • Janssen I, Cooper P, Gunka K, Rupnik M, Wetzel D, Zimmermann O, Groß U (2016) High prevalence of nontoxigenic Clostridium difficile isolated from hospitalized and non-hospitalized individuals in rural Ghana. Int J Med Microbiol. 306: 652-656.