Eric M. Kemen PhD

Eric did his PhD in cell biology and phytopathology at the University of Konstanz where he discovered the first fungal effector protein delivered into host plants. Joining the group of Jonathan Jones at the Sainsbury Laboratory in Norwich, UK, he established sequencing and computational techniques to analyze fungal and oomycete genomes. In 2012, Eric became a research group leader at the MPI for Plant Breeding Research in Cologne, focusing on his group on microbe-microbe and plant-microbe interactions. An important finding was the discovery of ‘microbial hubs’ that link microbial communities to the host genotype. Since 2017, Eric is Professor at the University of Tübingen combining computational modeling with ecology and host/microbe genetics to discover novel mechanisms in complex microbial community assembly and stability.