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I am a postdoc in the group of Sebastian Bonhoeffer at the ETH in Zürich, Switzerland..

My research focuses on the evolution of infectious disease. Specifically, I strive to understand two key issues: first, some infectious diseases harm us more, others less. And not everybody becomes sick. Therefore, how do the genetics of the host and the disease agent contribute to the outcome of an infection? Second, sometimes hosts are abundant, sometimes they are scarce. Sometimes they defend themselves vigorously, sometimes not. How do infectious diseases evolve in response to these different environmental conditions?

In the past, I addressed these questions with microsporidian parasites and their host , the crustacean Daphnia magna. Microsporidia are highly specialized fungi and absolutely fascinating. I am still involved in different projects and if you are into microsporidia, I would love to hear about your work. Currently, I collaborate with my old group to learn more about a very peculiar member of the microsporidia. If we are lucky, we might even discover the missing link between them and their relatives, the fungi.

Now, I am working with a bacteriophage (a virus that infects bacteria) and its host, the bacterium Escherichia coli. The phage (its lambda, for those that are into phages) evolves very rapidly and allows me to observe parasite evolution in real time. With this system, I can test how diseases adapt to changes in their environment.

How to contact me

Dominik Refardt

Institute of Integrative Biology, ETH Zürich

ETH Zentrum CHN J11

Universitätsstr. 16

CH-8092 Zürich, Switzerland

dominik dot refardt "please insert an @ here" gmail dot com