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Mission Statement
The glyco-code confers individuality to every cell. In microbes, it manifests in diverse cellular “glyco-infrastructure” - such as cell surface decoration, cell wall material, carbohydrate-active enzymes, and biofilm matrix.
Our mission is to understand how microbes build up their glyco-code and to translate the glyco-language microbes speak - endogenously, in inter-species, cross-kingdom and microbe-host interactions - into new knowledge that enables us to advance targeted intervention approaches. Drawing from the areas of microbiology and molecular glycobiology the Schäffer Group is developing biological settings to assess structure-function relationships of natural compounds such as microbial glycans and secondary metabolites in contexts that are relevant to human health.
The research of the Schäffer Group is performed at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Vienna (Universität für Bodenkultur Wien, BOKU Vienna) and within a well-established and steadily growing network of national and international collaborations.
Christina Schäffer is an associated faculty member of the Austrian Science Fund (FWF)-funded international doctoral programme BioToP at BOKU.
The Schäffer Group is member of the AustroCarbNet
