Sophie Jünger

Research activities

My doctoral research is focused on ribosomally produced and post-translationally modified peptides (RiPPs). These highly specialized compounds, often produced by bacteria, exhibit intriguing chemical structures which provide them with interesting biological properties and various functional roles for their producing organisms.

The focus of my thesis is the discovery and structural characterisation of these bacterial natural products, in particular peptide metallophores. Subsequently, I will investigate the corresponding biosynthetic machinery, the complex mechanisms involved in their biosynthesis as well as the underlying regulatory mechanisms and their physiological functions in the environment.

For this purpose, I use various methods from different disciplines, e.g. microbiology, molecular biology, bioinformatics, and analytical chemistry.