Kevin Becker- Dr. rer. nat.
- Product Manager - Automated Liquid Handling at Eppendorf Group
Kevin Becker
- Dr. rer. nat.
- Product Manager - Automated Liquid Handling at Eppendorf Group
I am curious for all kinds of applications and solutions to enable, facilitate, and improve lab workflows.
About
19
Publications
9,140
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416
Citations
Introduction
Biotechnologist/biochemist working on development of future automated liquid handling devices, bringing in the lab perspective to create products with great user experience. My Professional background lies in natural product chemistry and neighbouring fields such as instrumental analytics and biosynthesis research.
I am curious for all kinds of applications and solutions to enable, facilitate, and improve lab workflows.
Current institution
Additional affiliations
April 2021 - March 2023
Position
- PostDoc Position
Description
- Biosynthesis research: genome-mining, transformation, analytics, structure elucidation
September 2017 - August 2020
Position
- PhD Student
Description
- Natural product chemistry: cultivation, analytics, isolation, structure elucidation, bioactivity assessment. Thesis: "Identification of novel bioactive natural products from species of Xylariales"
January 2016 - March 2017
IMD Natural Solutions GmbH
Position
- Intern & Technical Assistant
Description
- Natural product chemistry: analytics, isolation, structure elucidation, bioactivity assessment
Education
October 2014 - September 2016
October 2011 - October 2014
Publications
Publications (19)
The diversity of azaphilones in stromatal extracts of the fungus Hypoxylon fragiforme was investigated and linked to their biosynthetic machineries by using bioinformatics. Nineteen azaphilone‐type compounds were isolated and characterized by NMR spectroscopy and mass spectrometry, and their absolute stereoconfigurations were assigned by using Mosh...
The families Xylariaceae and Hypoxylaceae (Xylariales, Ascomycota) represent one of the most prolific lineages of secondary metabolite producers. Like many other fungal taxa, they exhibit their highest diversity in the tropics. The stromata as well as the mycelial cultures of these fungi (the latter of which are frequently being isolated as endophy...
To date little is known about the genetic background that drives the production and diversification of secondary metabolites in the Hypoxylaceae. With the recent availability of high-quality genome sequences for 13 representative species and one relative (Xylaria hypoxylon) we attempted to survey the diversity of biosynthetic pathways in these orga...
*Thesis text body in English*
Xylariales (Ascomycota) is a fungal order comprising, inter alia, the large families Hypoxylaceae and Xylariaceae, known as particularly prolific producers of (bioactive) natural products in mycelial cultures and stromata. Recent genome analyses of model fungi revealed a large discrepancy between numbers of predicted...
Twenty ox ygenated aristolochene congeners were rapidly synthesised by combining genes from four different fungal pathways in the fungal host organism Aspergillus oryzae . Compounds produced in a single step include the...
Submerged cultivation of Hypomontagnella monticulosa MUCL 54604 resulted in formation of a stereoisomeric mixture of new sulfur-containing sporothriolide derivatives named sporothioethers A and B. The presence of the 2-hydroxy-3-mercaptopropanoic acid moiety attenuates the antimicrobial activity in comparison to the precursor sporothriolide suggest...
We report new stromatal azaphilone pigments rubiginosins Z‐X from the ascomycete Hypoxylon rubiginosum, as well as rubiginosins Z and W from H. texense, which were isolated along with known monomeric and dimeric congeners. Structures were elucidated using comprehensive HRMS, NMR, and ECD analysis, revealing azaphilones from both fungi to be exclusi...
-Accepted for publication in Studies in Mycology-
To date little is known about the genetic background that drives the production and diversification of secondary metabolites in the Hypoxylaceae. With the recent availability of high-quality genome sequences for 13 representative species and one relative (Xylaria hypoxylon) we attempted to survey t...
During a diversity study of entomopathogenic fungi in an agricultural ecosystem, two fungi were collected, isolated, and identified based on molecular phylogenetic analyses of three nuclear loci (LSU, TEF1, and RPB1) combined with morphological data. In this study, one novel species is described, Ophiocordyceps flavida, and a new record of Pseudogi...
In an investigation of stromatic Xylariales in Thailand, several specimens of Daldinia were discovered. Three novel species (D. flavogranulata, D. phadaengensis, and D. chiangdaoensis) were recognized from a molecular phylogeny based on concatenated ITS, LSU, RPB2, and TUB2 sequence data, combined with morphological characters and secondary metabol...
The families Xylariaceae and Hypoxylaceae (Xylariales, Ascomycota) represent one of the most prolific lineages of secondary metabolite producers. Like many other fungal taxa, they exhibit their highest diversity in the tropics. The stromata as well as the mycelial cultures of these fungi (the latter of which are frequently being isolated as endophy...
The ascomycete Hypoxylon invadens was described in 2014 as a fungicolous species growing on a member of its own genus, H. fragiforme, which is considered a rare lifestyle in the Hypoxylaceae. This renders H. invadens an interesting target in our efforts to find new bioactive secondary metabolites from members of the Xylariales. So far, only volatil...
In an investigation of stromatic Xylariales in Thailand, several specimens of Daldinia were discovered. Three novel species (D. flavogranulata, D. phadaengensis and D. chiangdaoensis) were recognised from a molecular phylogeny based on concatenated ITS, LSU, RPB2 and TUB2 sequence data, combined with morphological characters and secondary metabolit...
The genus Stromatoneurospora was erected in 1973 by Jong and Davis to accommodate the pyrophilic pyrenomycete Sphaeria phoenix and has traditionally been placed in the family Xylariaceae based on morphological features. However, no living culture of this genus has so far been available in the public domain. Molecular data were restricted to an inte...
During the course of our search for novel biologically active metabolites from tropical fungi, we are using chemotaxonomic and taxonomic methodology for the preselection of interesting materials. Recently, three previously undescribed benzo[j]fluoranthenes (1−3) together with the known derivatives truncatones A and C (4, 5) were isolated from the s...
Tailoring enzymes in cytochalasan biosynthesis are relatively promiscuous. Exploiting this property, we deduced the function of four cryptic cytochrome P450 monooxygenases via heterologous expression of six cytochrome P450-encoding genes, originating from Hypoxylon fragiforme and Pyricularia oryzae, in pyrichalasin H ΔP450 strains. Three cryptic cy...
Two new species and a new combination of Hypoxylon from Texas were identified and described based on morphological, multigene phylogenetic (ITS [nuc rDNA internal transcribed spacer region ITS1-5.8S-ITS2], 28S [5′ 1200 bp of nuc 28S rDNA], RPB2 [partial second largest subunit of the DNA-directed RNA polymerase II], TUB2 [partial β-tubulin]), and ch...
Fungal stromata were recently discovered in association with charcoal and burnt soil aggregates during an archaeological survey in the Châtillon-sur-Seine forest massif. The wood and soil in the samples were dated to the medieval period (between 738 and 1411 AD). Light microscopy and scanning electron microscopy revealed that a few of the stromatal...
