Prof. Dr. Markus Gerhard
Medical Microbiology and Immunology
TUM School of Medicine and Health
Academic Career and Research Areas
The research work of Professor Gerhard (b. 1968) explores how pathogens interact with the host in gastrointestinal infections. Professor Gerhard’s research group investigates the mechanisms that suppress the immunoresponse of the host to allow the occurrence of infection as well as inflammatory factors involved in the development of cancer.
Professor Gerhard studied medicine in Heidelberg and Hamburg from 1988 to 1996. He earned his MD in 1996 (summa cum laude). From 1997 to 2004 he completed his medical training leading to German medical board certification in internal medicine in the Department of Internal Medicine (II. Medizinische Klinik) at Klinikum rechts der Isar. From 2004 to 2006 he worked at the Netherlands Institute for Developmental Biology in the research group of Professor Hans Clevers. From 2006 he headed a research group in the Department of Internal Medicine (II. Medizinische Klinik) at Klinikum rechts der Isar, where he also acquired his postdoctoral teaching qualification (habilitation) in internal medicine in 2009. In 2010 he was appointed associate professor of medical microbiology and immunology at the Institute for Medical Microbiology and Immunology, a unit within TUM. He is Academic Director of the TUM Venture Labs Healthcare.
Prof. Dr. Li Deng
Prevention of Microbial Infectious Diseases
TUM School of Life Sciences
Academic Career and Research Areas
Prof. Deng conducts research in the area of phage biology, virome and microbiome. She uses single-cell technologies, multi-omics, culture-independent techniques, and machine learning to understand the underlying mechanisms of phage-bacterial interactions and their impact on the human host. Her group develops phage-based novel therapeutics and prevention interventions for target eliminating pathogenic bacteria and ameliorating disease severity by restoring healthy microbiota in multiple diseases or conditions.
Prof. Deng studied Environmental Engineering at the Tsinghua University, China (BEng), Environmental Science at the University of Nottingham, UK (MSc) and Microbiology at the University of Bristol, UK (PhD). After her post-doctoral training at the University of Arizona, US, she joined Helmholtz Munich as the head of DFG Emmy Noether Junior group and Helmholtz Young Investigator group. She became chair professor for Prevention of Bacterial Diseases at TUM in 2022, and joint director of the Central Institute of Infection Prevention (ZIP) in 2023.