April 2024

Review on the “Glycolanguage of the oral microbiota”, accepted in Molecular Oral Microbiology. Authors: Susanne Bloch, Fiona F. Hager-Mair, Christina Schäffer

February 2024

The Schäffer Research Group together with Oleh Andrukhov (Medical University of Vienna) publishes a review article on “Oral streptococci: modulators in health and disease” Authors: Susanne Bloch, Fiona Hager-Mair, Oleh Andrukhov, Christina Schäffer.

February 2024

Fiona Hager-Mair, PhD and Dipl.-Ing. Cordula Stefanovic from the Schäffer Group present their research at the 27. AustroCarbNet Workshop at TU Graz, Austria:

Presentation titles:

  • “UDP-GlcNAc-2-epimerase MnaA, an enzyme central to glycoconjugate biosynthesis”,
  • “LytR-CpsA-Psr glycopolymer transferases, an essential step in Gram-positive cell wall assembly”

Cooperation partners Prof. Hanspeter Kähling (University of Vienna) and Dipl.-Ing. Michael Bruckner (BOKU) present their work on:

  • “How to resolve complex carbohydrate NMR spectra (S-layer O-glycan from Tannerella serpentiformis”,
  • “Synthesis of probes and inhibitors for SCWP-mediated S-layer glycoprotein anchoring”

November 2023

Stephanie Walcher, MSc. from the Schäffer Group presents her research at the Society for Glycobiology Meeting 2023, Waikaloa, Big Island, Hawaii, USA.

Presentation title: “Elucidating the O-glycan structure of the novel periodontal health-associated bacterium Tannerella serpentiformis”

September 2023

Prof. Christina Schäffer is invited to the 3rd International Conference on Oral Mucosal Immunity and Microbiome, Crete, Greece.

Title of lecture: “Tannerella species in periodontal health versus disease”

June 2023

Prof. Christina Schäffer is invited to the Beilstein Symposium Glycobioinformatics, Limburg, Germany.

Title of lecture: “S-Layer glycosylation patterns of Tannerella species in oral health versus disease”

Stephanie Walcher, MSc. presents her work on Tannerella serpentiformis at the same conference.

February 2023

The Schäffer Research Group together with BOKU project partners published a paper in Nature on “Molecular modelling and site-directed mutagenesis provide insight into saccharide pyruvylation by the Paenibacillus alvei CsaB enzyme”. Authors: Cordula Stefanović,  Fiona Hager-Mair, Erik Breslmayr, Arturo López‑Guzmán, Charlie Lim, Markus Blaukopf, Paul Kosma, Chris Oostenbrink, Roland Ludwig, and C. Schäffer

October 2022

Christina Schäffer (BOKU Vienna), Chris Oostenbrink (BOKU Vienna) and Markus Blaukopf (BOKU Vienna) receive 596.000 € funding from the FWF for the research project “Structural glycobiology and inhibition of S-layer anchoring by secondary cell wall glycopolymers”. Collaborators in this project are Paul Kosma (BOKU Vienna), Stephen V. Evans (University of Victoria, CAN) and Tanmay Bharat (University of Oxford, UK).

October 2022

Christina Schäffer is promoted to the rank of Univ.Prof. for “Molecular Glycobiology” at BOKU Vienna, Department of Chemistry.

September 2022

Susanne Bloch, PhD returns to the Schäffer Research Group after maternity leave as a postdoctoral researcher with a dual affiliation at BOKU Vienna and at the Competence Center Periodontal Research, University Clinic of Dentistry, Medical University of Vienna, Austria.

August 2022

The Schäffer Research Group together with O. Andrukhov (Medical University of Vienna) and T. Thurnheer (University of Zurich) publish “Multispecies biofilm behavior rand host interaction support the association of Tannerella serpentiformis with periodontal health” Authors: Fabian. L. Kendlbacher, Suanne Bloch, Fiona F. Hager-Mair, Johanna Bacher, Bettina Janesch, Thomas Thurnheer, Oleh Andrukhov, and Christina Schäffer. Molecular Oral Microbiology, 2022; 1-19.

July 2022

Fiona Hager, PhD and Stephanie Walcher, MSc. from the Schäffer Group present their research work at the 25. AustroCarbNet Workshop at TU Graz, Austria.

May 2022

Dipl.-Ing. Cordula Stefanović from the Schäffer Group wins prestigious ÖAW Doc Fellowship to perform her PhD research project “Enzymatic ligation of pyruvylated secondary cell wall glycopolymer to peptidoglycan as an essential step for bacterial cell wall assembly”.

April 2022

Fiona Hager-Mair, PhD gives her first lecture on “Antimicrobials” within the frame of BOKU’s course LV 772.330 “Microbiology and Disease”.

December 2021

Christina Schäffer (BOKU Vienna), Erick M. Carreira (ETH Zurich) and Erik Reimhult (BOKU Vienna) receive 610.000 € funding from the WWTF within the frame of the 2021 Life Science Call “Chemical Biology” for the interdisciplinary research project “Mutanofactin – A molecular adhesive in cariogenic microbial biofilms?”