After 13 years at the Leibniz Institute DSMZ I have moved to the University of Augsburg. Augsburg, located in Bavaria, Germany, is a historic city with a rich cultural heritage. Renowned for its well-preserved medieval architecture, Augsburg was recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2019. The city’s historical significance, including its role in trade and the Fugger banking empire, contributes to its status as a cultural gem in southern Germany.
The University of Augsburg is a relatively young campus university with approx. 20,000 students in October 2023. Here, I am working at the Chair of Biomedical Informatics, Data Mining and Data Analytics, led by Prof. Matthias Schlesner, as the Head of the newly established Bioinformatics Core Facility, which is designed to serve the entire university which has an academic staff of more than 2,000 persons (professors, lecturers, academic support staff etc.).
The scientific focus at the Chair of Biomedical Informatics, Data Mining and Data Analytics is the development and application of complex bioinformatics methods in interdisciplinary research projects. Thematically, the projects range from basic research to translational biomedical research. In cooperation with the Medical Faculty of the University of Augsburg and the University Hospital, the Bioinformatics Core Facility will be established to serve as a central unit of the university to support scientists in experimental and clinical research in the planning and implementation of research projects that require bioinformatics analysis. As a matter of fact, my research focus will now shift from genome-based taxonomy and phylogenomics to the aforementioned topics.