Speaker Biography

Gero Steinberg

Professor Steinberg studied Biology in Kiel, Germany, where he mainly focused on the ecology of marine and freshwater systems. After graduation he started a PhD in the laboratory of Prof. Manfred Schliwa in Munich, working on organelle transport and molecular motors in Neurospora crassa and later in the zygomycete Syncephalastrum racemosum. After a post-doctorate post in the lab of Prof. Richard McIntosh, working on Schizosaccaromyces pombe and Ustilago maydis, he joined the group of Prof. Regine Kahmann in Munich. There he established a research group addressing membrane trafficking, cell polarity and pathogenicity in the basidiomycete corn pathogen Ustilago maydis. In 2001 he followed Professor Kahmann to the Max-Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology in Marburg, Gemany, taking a permanent C3 position, still working on different aspects of cellular dynamics in U. maydis. In 2007 Professor Steinberg moved to Exeter, UK, as Chair in Cell Biology and Director of the Bioimaging Centre. Many of his current scientific investigations have medical implications and consequently he became Honorary Professor at the Penninsula Medical School in Exeter. His work still addresses the cytoskeleton and membrane dynamics in fungal model systems, which, in some projects, is done with particular emphasis on the pathogenic potential of the smut fungus.