Heike Brötz-Oesterhelt is a microbiologist having worked in antibacterial drug discovery in the academic and pharmaceutical industry setting for more than 25 years.
After a diploma in biology and her PhD in Microbiology, she joined the Anti-Infectives Department of Bayer HealthCare and later co-founded the anti-infective biotech company AiCuris. In 2010, she returned to academia as a professor for Pharmaceutical Biology at the University of Düsseldorf, and since 2014 she is professor for Microbiology at the University of Tübingen heading the Department of Microbial Bioactive Compounds.
Heike is co-speaker of the Cluster of Excellence “Controlling Microbes to Fight Infection” as well as deputy speaker of the partner site Tübingen within the German Center of Infection Research (DZIF). Her scientific focus is unraveling the molecular mechanisms of new antibiotic agents and operation modes of novel antibiotic targets.