Chantal Bader studied Pharmacy at the Ruprecht-Karls-University Heidelberg, Germany (Approbation as Pharmacist, 2016). In 2016, she the department of Rolf Müller at HIPS. Working on the isolation and characterization of natural products from myxobacteria, she obtained her masters and later on Ph.D. degree here. Supported by the DFG Walter-Benjamin-Fellowship, she moved to the Herbert Wertheim UF Scripps Institute for Biomedical Innovation & Technology (Florida, US, 2022), where she joined Prof. Shens group. As leader of function-guided screenings of the extensive extract library here, she expanded her focus towards discovery of anti-Gram-negative antibiotics and antiplasmodials from actinobacteria. In July 2024, Chantal joined HIPS again as pilot of the Young AcademiXX program.

Chantal’s research focuses on elucidation of uncharacterized natural products with emphasis on antiparasitics and their application for the treatment of neglected tropical diseases. She is particularly interested in the ecological context under which these pharmaceutically relevant natural products are produced and deciphering signaling molecules secreted by taxonomically distant organisms to induce their production. For her outstanding achievements as part of her doctorate, she has been awarded by the HZI Sponsors’ Association and the Hans-und-Ruth-Giessen-Foundation, among others.