Research Group Dr. Wichard
The focus of our research group is to elucidate the mutualistic interactions between prokaryotes and eukaryotes ("cross-kingdom cross-talk"). Our previous work has shown that challenges of chemical ecology - at the interface between biology and chemistry - can only be resolved successfully by an interdisciplinary research approach. The consistent combination of classical bioassays and chemical analytical methods reveals novel insights into the complex networks of infochemicals and signal molecules along with their ecophysiological significance. Our research approach focuses on the fundamental understanding of the functioning of infochemicals in biocoenoses that can be mimicked in laboratory studies after which field experiments are conducted to prove their ecological significance.