Doctoral researcher
Phone: +49 3641 532-1446
Email: al************@*********ki.de
Alex completed his integrated Master’s degree in Biochemistry at the University of Warwick, United Kingdom, in July 2024 following four years of study. During his final year, he carried out his Master’s project focusing on ancientbiotics within the Harrison Laboratory at Warwick’s School of Life Sciences, aiming to address the need for alternative antimicrobial treatments to traditional antibiotics.
Alex expressed interest in joining the Paleobiotechnology Department to pursue his PhD ambitions in summer 2023 and subsequently joined the department in September 2024 upon completion of his Master’s degree. His research focuses on the automated screening of ancient biosynthetic gene clusters, integrating them into modern host organisms to assess their ability to produce natural product compounds. This work is supported by automation using the JenXplor platform at the Leibniz-HKI and involves techniques such as molecular biotechnology, heterologous expression, solid-phase extraction, and a range of chemical and purification methods to analyse ancient natural products.