Femke-Anouska Heinsen-Groth

Consolidated Researcher Details:

Institute:
Insitute of Clinical Molecular Biology, University of Kiel
Research Area:
Microbiome Studies / Epigenetics
Website:
Insitute of Clinical Molecular Biology, University of Kiel
Femke-Anouska Heinsen-Groth
f.heinsen [at] ikmb.uni-kiel.de
+49 (0) 431 / 500 - 15 152
Special / additional position within the RTG: 2014-2017
RTG-Project (Associated Scientist): The gut mycobiome of a cross-sectional Northern German population
RTG-Project (Associated Scientist): The evolution of the human gut microbiome - characterizing the development of today´s human gut microbiome by analyzing non-human microbiome profiles
Publications: Stool frequency is associated with gut microbiota composition

Why this profession?

I studied Nutritional Sciences in Kiel and received my doctorate in 2012. The subject of my PhD was the impact of antibiotics and probiotics on the human gut microbiome. After graduating, I joined the “Research Group for Healthy Ageing” at the Institute of Clinical Molecular Biology (supervisor: Prof. Almut Nebel) where I performed genome-wide association studies in order to shed light on the molecular basis of human longevity.

Since December 2013, I am back in the microbiome field joining the group of Prof. Andre Franke (Institute of Clinical Molecular Biology). Here I am trying to describe the “normal” gut microbiome and to identify altered microbial profiles in common gut disease development and progression. Furthermore, I am involved in epigenome studies as I established the web-lab protocol for Reduced Representation Bisulfite Sequencing (RRBS).

Why RTG Genes, Environment and Inflammation?

Whereas the microbiome of the human gut has been described quite well and it has already been identified that certain genes as well as diets are linked to the composition and the functional properties of this essential bacterial consortium, less is known for the gut mycobiome. As the mycobiome very likely interacts with the microbiome and contributes to human gut health and disease, it is time to study the mycobiome in more detail.