Team members
Every individual co-worker, from research technicians and students to PhDs and postdoctoral researchers is an essential part of a dynamic and successful group. They deserve all the appreciation, and more.
Prof. Suayib Üstün
Team Manager/Mentor | plant molecular biologist "allrounder"| Freeletics | dislikes hierarchies | loves to travel, cook, seaside and science |
email: suayb.uestuen@rub.de
tel: +49-(0)234-32-24467
Paul Gouguet
Postdoctoral Scientist |
email: paul.gouguet@rub.de
tel: +49-(0)234-32-24321
Gautier Langin
Postdoctoral Scientist|
email: gautier.langin@rub.de
tel: +49-(0)234-32-24321
Shanshuo Zhu
Postdoctoral Scientist |
email: shanshuo.zhu@rub.de
tel: +49-(0)234-32-24321
Manuel González-Fuente
Postdoctoral Scientist
email: manuel.gonzalezfuente@rub.de
tel: +49-(0)234-32-26640
Margot Raffeiner
Postdoctoral Scientist |
email: margot.raffeiner@rub.de
tel: +49-(0)234-32-26640
Ophélie Léger
Postdoctoral Scientist |
email: ophelie.leger@rub.de
tel: +49-(0)234-32-24321
Ke Xu
Postdoctoral Scientist |
email: Ke.Xu-s5s@ruhr-uni-bochum.de
tel: +49-(0)234-32-26640
Lea Röhder
Biological Technical Assistant |
email: Lea.Roehder@ruhr-uni-bochum.de
tel: +49-(0)234-32-26640
Suayib studied cell and molecular biology at the Friedrich-Alexander University in Nürnberg-Erlangen, Germany. In 2010 he started his PhD in the lab of Prof. Frederik Börnke, where he worked on the functional characterization of bacterial type-III effectors from Xanthomonas targeting the proteasome. Suayib completed his PhD in 2013 and continued to work in the same lab as a postdoctoral researcher. In 2016 he joined the lab of Prof. Daniel Hofius at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences in Uppsala/Sweden with his FEBS long-term Fellowship. Here, he initiated the project to study the crosstalk between proteasome and autophagy degradation pathways in Pseudomonas infection. In September 2018, he started his group supported by the Emmy Noether fellowship at the ZMBP trying to understand how proteolytic degradation pathways influence plant immunity. In 02/2022, he accepted the Professorship for Plant Cell Biology at Ruhr-University Bochum.
Paul did his PhD at the University of Bordeaux in France on the protein-protein interactions of the plasma-membrane protein REMORIN, in the context of Potato Virus X infection. He is interested in Plant-Pathogen Interactions and how the plant cell machinery can be coopted by- or used against- the pathogen. During his post-doctoral contract, he hopes to bring light to the mechanisms by which the Pseudomonas type-III effector HopM1 interferes with autophagy and the secretory pathway. He currently works on the interplay of endomembranes and autophagy in the DFG funded Emmy Noether Project.
Gautier did his Master Degree at the University of Paul Sabatier in Toulouse, France. Here, he studied a cluster of atypical kinases involved in quantitative immunity against Xanthomonas campestris. He is interested in the role of the proteasome during Plant-Pathogen Interactions and how the proteasome machinery is manipulated by microbes. During his PhD, he will elucidate the specificity of proteasome regulation during plant immunity in the SFB1101 project.
Shanshuo did her PhD in the group of Prof. Ive De Smet at VIB-Ugent in Belgium on protein degradation regulation by internal and external stimuli in Arabidopsis. She joined the Ustun lab to start her first post-doctoral research in May 2021 and she will explore tissue and cell type-specific autophagy responses during plant immunity in the ERC funded project DIVERSIPHAGY.
Manuel did his PhD at the Laboratory of Plant-Microbe Interactions in Toulouse, France, where he studied the plant targets of effectors from the bacterial pathogens Xanthomonas campestris and Ralstonia solanacerarum. Interested in the molecular dialogue between plants and pathogens, he is studying the role of processing bodies in plant defense, and how certain bacterial effectors can modulate it.
Margot did her PhD at the Laboratory of Frederik Börnke in Germany where she characterized the type-III effector protein XopS from the bacterial pathogen Xanthomonas campestris pv. vesicatoria. She discovered that XopS targets and stabilizes a WRKY transcription factor to regulate defense homone responses and preinvasion immunity in pepper. She joined the Üstün Lab in January 2022 and will work in the ERC funded project DIVERSIPHAGY on selective autophagy mechanisms during plant-bacteria interaction.
Ophélie did her Master degree at the University of Paul Sabatier in Toulouse, France. Here, she studied how Mechanoperception leads to quantitative immune response of A. thaliana to Sclerotinia sclerotiorum. Next, she did her PhD in the Mechano-Plasma membrane team, at the ZMBP University of Tübingen. She studied the involvement of anionic lipids at the plasma membrane and the microtubule responses in Arabidopsis pavement cells. She could demonstrate a clear interplay between Phosphosinositide Phosphates homeostasis and microtubules dynamics mediated by the protein MDP25. Since January 2023, Ophélie works as a Post-doctoral researcher within the Emmy Noether Programme. She will work on the characterization of selective autophagy receptor Joka2 in the context of bacterial infection.
Ke did his PhD in the group of Prof. Tom Beeckman at VIB-Ugent in Belgium. During his PhD study, he focused on understanding the mechanisms of peptide signaling in plant development, especially root development. In May 2023, Ke joined the Ustun lab as a postdoctoral fellow to research on plant autophagy responses at a cell type-specific level in the ERC funded project DIVERSIPHAGY.
Lea did her training as a biological technical assistant at the Rheinische Akademie Cologne before she decided to study Biology at the Phillips-University Marburg. She got her Master of Science in 2018 and started to work at the MPI in Dortmund in 2020 as a BTA. She first investigated proteins regulating microtubule dynamics before she established CRISPR/Cas9 in different cell lines. Since October she is working in #theustunlab and will help the group in different projects.
Current students and student helpers:
Nazife Aydin (Bachelor thesis)
Christina Leonie Schröder (S-Module)
Reyhan Güven (S-Module)
Former members/students:
- Jia Xuan Leong (PhD student and Research assistant)
- David Biermann (Bachelor thesis and Student helper)
- Gaiea Izzati (Bachelor thesis and Student helper)
- Victoria Vyboishchikova (Student helper)
- Shiji Hou (Postdoctoral Scientist)
- Kyrylo Schenstnyi (Research assistant)
- Lucas Freidel (Research assistant)
- Dr. Hsin-Chiech Lee (Research assistant)
- Pia Lutz (rotation master student)