Ákos T. Kovács
Leiden University, The Netherlands
Biography
My aim is to understand how bacteria interact and evolve in complex communities and use this knowledge to engineer complex plant microbiomes. We examine how Bacilli interact during biofilm development with other microorganisms, including both soil-derived bacteria and fungi, and colonize their natural niche, the plant rhizosphere. My PhD (Szeged, Hungary) and post doc training (Groningen, The Netherlands) concentrated on bacterial physiology and genetics. My research group explores biofilm development, experimental evolution, interactions within plant microbiomes, chemical ecology, synthetic microbial communities, and circadian biology of microorganisms (as group leader at FSU Jena, Germany 2012-2017; Professor of Bacterial Physiology and Genetics at DTU, Denmark 2017-2023; and Professor of Microbiome Ecology in Leiden University, The Netherlands since 2023).
Lecture Title:
Understanding Bacillus ecology towards composing a symphony for the rhizosphere
Pillar and Topic/Subtopic:
PILLAR 3: INNOVATIVE BIOTECH & INDUSTRIAL APPLICATIONS
3.2: Synthetic Biology, Molecular Microbiology & Bioinformatics
3.2C Synthetic Microbial Communities (SynComs): Prospects and Constraints
