After studying Biology at the RWTH Aachen in Germany and a short working period in Biophysics at the BIOTEC in Dresden, Germany, Alex completed his PhD in Molecular Cell Biology of Filamentous Fungi at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, in the group pf Prof. Nick D. Read. Alex continued his studies on cell-cell fusion and polarised tip growth of filamentous fungi as postdoc at CICESE in Ensenada, Mexico, in the group of Prof. Ernestina Castro-Longoria. He then switched into applied sciences and used his live-cell imaging skills to investigate regulatory aspects of cellulose metabolism in Trichoderma reesei in the group of Prof. Christian P. Kubicek at the University of Technology Vienna, Austria. Since 2016 he is faculty member of the Department of Microbiology at the University of Innsbruck, Austria, as part of the team of Prof. Susanne Zeilinger and as junior PI of his own group. Alex' research focuses on molecular and cellular aspects of mycoparasitism of several Trichoderma species, including T. atroviride, T. asperellum and T. virens. Specifically, on how host-induced disruption of the polarised growth machinery triggers phenotypic changes in Trichoderma spec required for successful mycoparasitism.
