Microbiologist Yvonne Mast appointed scientific director of DSMZ
Since February 2010, Professor Jörg Overmann has headed the Leibniz Institute DSMZ-German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures in Braunschweig. However, in August of this year, he was appointed to the Chair of Molecular Biodiversity Research at Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich. In Munich, he will also take on the newly created position of full-time Director General of all state-owned natural science museums and collections in Bavaria. Until a new scientific director is appointed in collaboration with the Technical University of Braunschweig, Professor Dr Yvonne Mast will take over the management of the DSMZ on an interim basis.
Yvonne Mast studies bacteria in order to beat them at their own game
Yvonne Mast studied biology at Eberhard Karls University in Tübingen. After completing her doctorate in the Department of Microbiology/Biotechnology at the Interfaculty Institute for Microbiology and Infection Medicine at the University of Tübingen, she took over a working group there that focused on the biosynthesis and regulatory mechanisms of various secondary metabolites from streptomycetes. She habilitated in microbiology at the University of Tübingen in 2017. Since 2019, she has been Professor of Applied Microbiology at the Institute of Microbiology at the Technical University of Braunschweig and Head of the Department of Bioresources for the Bioeconomy and Health Research at the Leibniz Institute DSMZ. Yvonne Mast's scientific work focuses on researching and utilising the biosynthetic potential of actinomycetes as an important resource for drug research , with a particular focus on regulatory mechanisms of antibiotic production. She has published more than 50 articles in renowned journals such as Nature Chemical Biology, Nucleic Acids Research and Microbiology.
Against the gender gap in the naming of organisms
Last October, we drew attention to their articlein which Yvonne Mast and her team described more than two dozen new strains of actinomycetes and named them exclusively after female role models from microbiology and drug development. In this way, they creatively raised the profile of women and their scientific achievements.
Last year, she received the "Leibniz Drug of the Year 2024" award for her research.
We are delighted for Yvonne Mast in her new position of responsibility and wish her continued success!
René Lesnik | Coordination Infect-Net
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