Prof. Dr. Wolf-Dietrich Hardt Institute of Microbiology, ETH Zurich, Switzerland

Wolf-Dietrich Hardt is a full Professor of Microbiology at the Institute of Microbiology (D-BIOL) ETH Zurich. His group investigates the molecular mechanisms of infectious disease. Wolf-Dietrich Hardt studied biochemistry at the Freie Universität Berlin. He did his diploma- and PhD-theses (1992-1995) with Dr. Roland K. Hartmann in the group of... read moreProf. Volker A. Erdmann at the Institute of Biochemistry, FU Berlin. From 1995 to 1997 Wolf-Dietrich Hardt joined the group of Prof. Jorge E. Galan at Stony Brook, New York. There, he began his work on the molecular mechanisms of Salmonella infections. Afterwards he moved to the Max von Pettenkofer Institute (group of Prof. Jürgen Heesemann) at the Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich. There, he continued his work on Salmonella pathogenesis and established his own research group (1998-2001). In October 2001 his research group moved to the Institute of Microbiology at the ETH Zurich. The research in Wolf-Dietrich Hardt’s group is focused on the molecular mechanisms of infectious diseases. This includes the evolution and adaptation of pathogens to new hosts and the molecular function of specific bacterial virulence factors. Currently, his lab has a strong focus on Salmonella Typhimurium pathogenesis and how these bacteria employ Type III secretion systems to cause disease.