Dr. Katharina Wandera

Profile

Academic positionPhD Candidate
Research fieldsMedical Microbiology and Mycology, Hygiene, Molecular Infection Biology,Metabolism, Biochemistry, and Genetics of Microorganisms
KeywordsJumbophages, bacterial defence systems, Phage-encoded anti-defence mechanisms, Phage-host interactions

Current contact address

CountryNew Zealand
CityDunedin
InstitutionUniversity of Otago
InstituteDepartment of Microbiology and Immunology

Host during sponsorship

Prof. Dr. Peter FineranDepartment of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Otago, Dunedin
Start of initial sponsorship01/10/2024

Programme(s)

2023Feodor Lynen Research Fellowship Programme for Postdocs

Publications (partial selection)

2025Wandera, Katharina G and Schmelz, Stefan and Migur, Angela and Kibe, Anuja and Lukat, Peer and Achmedov, Tatjana and Caliskan, Neva and Blankenfeldt, Wulf and Beisel, Chase L: AcrVIB1 inhibits CRISPR-Cas13b immunity by promoting unproductive crRNA binding accessible to RNase attack. In: Molecular Cell, 85, 2025, 1162--1175
2025Wandera, Katharina G and Dubrulle, Jeremy and Greene, Russell and Ozturk, Meric and Knott, Gavin and Sashital, Dipali G and Fineran, Peter C: CRISPR2025 New Zealand: Innovation and Collaboration. In: The CRISPR Journal, 8, 2025, 166--173
2025Mahler, Marina and Cui, Liang and Smith, Leah M and Wandera, Katharina G and Dietrich, Oliver and Mayo-Mu{\~n}oz, David and Balamkundu, Seetharamsing and Lee, Megan En and Ye, Hong and Liu, Chuan-Fa and others: Phage arabinosyl-hydroxy-cytosine DNA modifications result in distinct evasion and sensitivity responses to phage defense systems. In: Cell host \& microbe, 33, 2025, 1173--1190
2024Wimmer, Franziska and Englert, Frank and Wandera, Katharina G and Alkhnbashi, Omer S and Collins, Scott P and Backofen, Rolf and Beisel, Chase L: Interrogating two extensively self-targeting Type I CRISPR-Cas systems in Xanthomonas albilineans reveals distinct anti-CRISPR proteins that block DNA degradation. In: Nucleic Acids Research, 52, 2024, 769--783
2024Benz, Fabienne and Camara-Wilpert, Sarah and Russel, Jakob and Wandera, Katharina G and {\v{C}}epait{\.e}, Rimvyd{\.e} and Ares-Arroyo, Manuel and Gomes-Filho, Jos{\'e} Vicente and Englert, Frank and Kuehn, Johannes A and Gloor, Silvana and others: Type IV-A3 CRISPR-Cas systems drive inter-plasmid conflicts by acquiring spacers in trans. In: Cell host \& microbe, 32, 2024, 875--886
2023Dmytrenko, Oleg and Neumann, Gina C and Hallmark, Thomson and Keiser, Dylan J and Crowley, Valerie M and Vialetto, Elena and Mougiakos, Ioannis and Wandera, Katharina G and Domgaard, Hannah and Weber, Johannes and others: Cas12a2 elicits abortive infection through RNA-triggered destruction of dsDNA. In: Nature, 613, 2023, 588--594
2022Vialetto, Elena and Yu, Yanying and Collins, Scott P and Wandera, Katharina G and Barquist, Lars and Beisel, Chase L: A target expression threshold dictates invader defense and prevents autoimmunity by CRISPR-Cas13. In: Cell host \& microbe, 30, 2022, 1151--1162
2022Wandera, Katharina G and Alkhnbashi, Omer S and vI Bassett, Harris and Mitrofanov, Alexander and Hauns, Sven and Migur, Anzhela and Backofen, Rolf and Beisel, Chase L: Anti-CRISPR prediction using deep learning reveals an inhibitor of Cas13b nucleases. In: Molecular cell, 82, 2022, 2714--2726
2021Wandera, Katharina G and Beisel, Chase L: Rapidly Characterizing CRISPR-Cas13 Nucleases Using Cell-Free Transcription-Translation Systems. Post-Transcriptional Gene Regulation. Springer US New York, NY, 2021. 135--153
2020Wandera, Katharina G and Collins, Scott P and Wimmer, Franziska and Marshall, Ryan and Noireaux, Vincent and Beisel, Chase L: An enhanced assay to characterize anti-CRISPR proteins using a cell-free transcription-translation system. In: Methods, 172, 2020, 42--50