Head of the Working Group "Human Microbiomes" at the Research Unit Comparative Microbiome Analysis
Dr. Silvia Gschwendtner
"The human microbiome provides many functions that are essential for our health. A dysbiosis of our microbiome consequently triggers disease. Thus, it is of prime importance to identify keystone microbial taxa which determine the functionality of the microbiome and develop strategies to promote their activity."
Academic Pathway
Silvia Gschwendtner holds a diploma in Biology and a PhD in Natural Sciences.
She started her career as Research Fellow at Helmholtz Munich, followed by two years at the Technical University Munich. At that time she strongly focused on the analysis of consequences of the release of transgenic plants for the soil microbiome, including questions of horizontal gene transfer of antibiotic resistance genes. Afterwards, she returned to Helmholtz Munich, focusing her work on the role of microbiomes in different environments and their impact on the development of diseases. Nowadays she is involved in major activities at Helmholtz Munich, where cohorts are used to assess drivers for health and disease. Silvia is responsible for the assessment of microbiomes in these studies.
Silvia has strong background in the molecular analysis of microbiomes using high throughput sequencing approaches: She established several bioinformatics pipelines, which help her to identify core microbiomes and keystone species based on the obtained sample materials.
Work and Expertise
Professional Background
Head of Working Group “Human Microbiomes” at COMI
Research Scientist at COMI
Publications
Schloter, M. ; Somehsarei, N.N. ; Gschwendtner, S.
Künstliche Darmmodelle: Potenziale und Grenzen der Mikrobiomforschung.Staude, B. ; Gschwendtner, S. ; Frodermann, T. ; Oehmke, F. ; Kohl, T. ; Walch, S. ; Schloter, M. ; Ehrhardt, H.
Association of specific microbiota taxa in the amniotic fluid at birth with severe acute and longer-term outcomes of very preterm infants: A prospective observational study.Botsidou, P. ; Schloter, M. ; Maraci, Ö. ; Gschwendtner, S. ; Nagel, R. ; Forcada, J. ; Hoffman, J.I.
Skin, but not gut, microbial communities vary with social density in Antarctic fur seals.Staude, B. ; Gschwendtner, S. ; Frodermann, T. ; Oehmke, F. ; Kohl, T. ; Kublik, S. ; Schloter, M. ; Ehrhardt, H.
Assoziationen mikrobieller Strukturen im Fruchtwasser bei Frühgeburt mit schweren akuten Komplikationen und Langzeitfolgen der Frühgeburt.Streb, L.-M. ; Cholewińska, P. ; Gschwendtner, S. ; Geist, J. ; Rath, S. ; Schloter, M.
Age matters: Exploring differential effects of antimicrobial treatment on gut microbiota of adult and juvenile brown trout (Salmo trutta).Lehr, P.P. ; Gschwendtner, S. ; Du, B. ; Rennenberg, H. ; Schloter, M. ; Zörb, C.
Grapevines and trees: A biodiversity study of microbiomes in an established temperate agroforestry system.Schneider, E. ; Amar, Y. ; Butter, K. ; Steiger, K. ; Musiol, S. ; Garcia-Käufer, M. ; Hölge, I.M. ; Schnautz, B. ; Gschwendtner, S. ; Ghirardo, A. ; Gminski, R. ; Eberlein, B. ; Esser-von Bieren, J. ; Biedermann, T. ; Haak, S. ; Ohlmeyer, M. ; Schmidt-Weber, C.B. ; Eyerich, S. ; Alessandrini, F.
Pinewood VOC emissions protect from oxazolone-induced inflammation and dysbiosis in a mouse model of atopic dermatitis.Kumar, A. ; Kuznetsova, O. ; Gschwendtner, S. ; Chen, H. ; Alonso-Crespo, I.M. ; Yusuf, M.A. ; Schulz, S. ; Bonkowski, M. ; Schloter, M. ; Temperton, V.M.
Shifts in plant functional trait dynamics in relation to soil microbiome in modern and wild barley.Hauschild, K. ; Orth, N. ; Liu, B. ; Giongo, A. ; Gschwendtner, S. ; Beerhues, L. ; Schloter, M. ; Vetterlein, D. ; Winkelmann, T. ; Smalla, K.
Rhizosphere competent inoculants modulate the apple root-associated microbiome and plant phytoalexins.Musiol, S. ; Harris, C. ; Gschwendtner, S. ; Burrell, A.L. ; Amar, Y. ; Schnautz, B. ; Renisch, D. ; Braun, S. ; Haak, S. ; Schloter, M. ; Schmidt-Weber, C.B. ; Zielinski, C.E. ; Alessandrini, F.
The impact of high-salt diet on asthma in humans and mice: Effect on specific T-cell signatures and microbiome.