Slavena Vylkova, PhD

Scientific Communications Manager
Medicine
[email protected]
+1 415 514-7869

Dr. Slavena Vylkova manages the scientific communications for the Benioff Center for Microbiome Medicine (BCMM). Her responsibilities include assisting with pre-award research funding operations, scientific writing/editing and project development.
Previously, Slavena was a research assistant professor at Friedrich Schiller University in Jena, Germany, where she led a research group focusing on the molecular basis of metabolic adaptation of the fungal pathogen Candida albicans to the host niches and associated microbiota. She received her PhD in Oral Biology from State University of New York at Buffalo with Dr. Mira Edgerton and her postdoctoral training in Dr. Michael Lorenz's laboratory in McGovern Medical School in Houston, TX.

Publications: 

Synergistic cross-kingdom host cell damage between Candida albicans and Enterococcus faecalis.

bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology

Kapitan M, Niemiec MJ, Millet N, Brandt P, Chowdhury MEK, Czapka A, Abdissa K, Hoffmann F, Lange A, Veleba M, Nietzsche S, Mosig AS, Löffler B, Marquet M, Makarewicz O, Kline KA, Vylkova S, Swidergall M, Jacobsen ID

A highly conserved tRNA modification contributes to C. albicans filamentation and virulence.

Microbiology spectrum

Böttcher B, Kienast SD, Leufken J, Eggers C, Sharma P, Leufken CM, Morgner B, Drexler HCA, Schulz D, Allert S, Jacobsen ID, Vylkova S, Leidel SA, Brunke S

Escherichia coli Nissle 1917 Antagonizes Candida albicans Growth and Protects Intestinal Cells from C. albicans-Mediated Damage.

Microorganisms

Rebai Y, Wagner L, Gnaien M, Hammer ML, Kapitan M, Niemiec MJ, Mami W, Mosbah A, Messadi E, Mardassi H, Vylkova S, Jacobsen ID, Znaidi S

Pathogen-specific innate immune response patterns are distinctly affected by genetic diversity.

Nature communications

Häder A, Schäuble S, Gehlen J, Thielemann N, Buerfent BC, Schüller V, Hess T, Wolf T, Schröder J, Weber M, Hünniger K, Löffler J, Vylkova S, Panagiotou G, Schumacher J, Kurzai O

High-Throughput Profiling of Candida auris Isolates Reveals Clade-Specific Metabolic Differences.

Microbiology spectrum

Brandt P, Mirhakkak MH, Wagner L, Driesch D, Möslinger A, Fänder P, Schäuble S, Panagiotou G, Vylkova S

Integrated analysis of SR-like protein kinases Sky1 and Sky2 links signaling networks with transcriptional regulation in Candida albicans.

Frontiers in cellular and infection microbiology

Luther CH, Brandt P, Vylkova S, Dandekar T, Müller T, Dittrich M

Functional analysis of the Candida albicans ECE1 Promoter.

Microbiology spectrum

Garbe E, Thielemann N, Hohner S, Kumar A, Vylkova S, Kurzai O, Martin R

Impaired amino acid uptake leads to global metabolic imbalance of Candida albicans biofilms.

NPJ biofilms and microbiomes

Böttcher B, Driesch D, Krüger T, Garbe E, Gerwien F, Kniemeyer O, Brakhage AA, Vylkova S

Lactobacillus rhamnosus colonisation antagonizes Candida albicans by forcing metabolic adaptations that compromise pathogenicity.

Nature communications

Alonso-Roman R, Last A, Mirhakkak MH, Sprague JL, Möller L, Großmann P, Graf K, Gratz R, Mogavero S, Vylkova S, Panagiotou G, Schäuble S, Hube B, Gresnigt MS

Candida albicans SR-Like Protein Kinases Regulate Different Cellular Processes: Sky1 Is Involved in Control of Ion Homeostasis, While Sky2 Is Important for Dipeptide Utilization.

Frontiers in cellular and infection microbiology

Brandt P, Gerwien F, Wagner L, Krüger T, Ramírez-Zavala B, Mirhakkak MH, Schäuble S, Kniemeyer O, Panagiotou G, Brakhage AA, Morschhäuser J, Vylkova S

GNP2 Encodes a High-Specificity Proline Permease in Candida albicans.

mBio

Garbe E, Miramón P, Gerwien F, Ueberschaar N, Hansske-Braun L, Brandt P, Böttcher B, Lorenz M, Vylkova S

Metabolic modeling predicts specific gut bacteria as key determinants for Candida albicans colonization levels.

The ISME journal

Mirhakkak MH, Schäuble S, Klassert TE, Brunke S, Brandt P, Loos D, Uribe RV, Senne de Oliveira Lino F, Ni Y, Vylkova S, Slevogt H, Hube B, Weiss GJ, Sommer MOA, Panagiotou G

Active neutrophil responses counteract Candida albicans burn wound infection of ex vivo human skin explants.

Scientific reports

von Müller C, Bulman F, Wagner L, Rosenberger D, Marolda A, Kurzai O, Eißmann P, Jacobsen ID, Perner B, Hemmerich P, Vylkova S

Catch the wave: Metabolomic analyses in human pathogenic fungi.

PLoS pathogens

Brandt P, Garbe E, Vylkova S

The Transcription Factor Stp2 Is Important for Candida albicans Biofilm Establishment and Sustainability.

Frontiers in microbiology

Böttcher B, Hoffmann B, Garbe E, Weise T, Cseresnyés Z, Brandt P, Dietrich S, Driesch D, Figge MT, Vylkova S

Ahr1 and Tup1 Contribute to the Transcriptional Control of Virulence-Associated Genes in Candida albicans.

mBio

Ruben S, Garbe E, Mogavero S, Albrecht-Eckardt D, Hellwig D, Häder A, Krüger T, Gerth K, Jacobsen ID, Elshafee O, Brunke S, Hünniger K, Kniemeyer O, Brakhage AA, Morschhäuser J, Hube B, Vylkova S, Kurzai O, Martin R

Robust Extracellular pH Modulation by Candida albicans during Growth in Carboxylic Acids.

mBio

Danhof HA, Vylkova S, Vesely EM, Ford AE, Gonzalez-Garay M, Lorenz MC

The fungal pathogen Candida albicans autoinduces hyphal morphogenesis by raising extracellular pH.

mBio

Vylkova S, Carman AJ, Danhof HA, Collette JR, Zhou H, Lorenz MC

Conservation and dispersion of sequence and function in fungal TRK potassium transporters: focus on Candida albicans.

FEMS yeast research

Miranda M, Bashi E, Vylkova S, Edgerton M, Slayman C, Rivetta A

The TRK1 potassium transporter is the critical effector for killing of Candida albicans by the cationic protein, Histatin 5.

The Journal of biological chemistry

Baev D, Rivetta A, Vylkova S, Sun JN, Zeng GF, Slayman CL, Edgerton M

Killing of Candida albicans by human salivary histatin 5 is modulated, but not determined, by the potassium channel TOK1.

Infection and immunity

Baev D, Rivetta A, Li XS, Vylkova S, Bashi E, Slayman CL, Edgerton M

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