Lisa Thönen
@lisathoenen.bsky.social
Fascinated about the colorful world of microbes. 🧫 Researcher in OneHealth. Now focusing on AMR in the food chain @Agroscope.
We have published a protocol for the high-throughput chemical phenotyping of bacteria. 🧫 🧪 I began working with the this system over a decade ago and it has already driven key discoveries how maize root bacteria adapt to plant specialized metabolites. Thanks to all collaborators! 🙌
Customizable High-Throughput Chemical Phenotyping of Root Bacteria bio-protocol.org/en/bpdetail?...
We describe a flexible, scalable, robust, and affordable method for the chemical phenotyping of bacteria.
We describe a flexible, scalable, robust, and affordable method for the chemical phenotyping of bacteria.
May 27, 2026 at 8:02 PM
We have published a protocol for the high-throughput chemical phenotyping of bacteria. 🧫 🧪 I began working with the this system over a decade ago and it has already driven key discoveries how maize root bacteria adapt to plant specialized metabolites. Thanks to all collaborators! 🙌
Great to see this work published in New Phytologist! 🎉 It’s exciting to see the benzoxazinoid-conditioned soil microbiome in action. 🦠
This study represents an important step forward in understanding how plants shape their growth performance in response to soil microbiomes🌱
This study represents an important step forward in understanding how plants shape their growth performance in response to soil microbiomes🌱
New study: Benzoxazinoid‐mediated microbiome feedbacks enhance Arabidopsis growth and defence - Stengele - New Phytologist - Wiley Online Library nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Benzoxazinoid‐mediated microbiome feedbacks enhance Arabidopsis growth and defence
Plants modulate their surrounding microbiome via root exudates and such conditioned soil microbiomes feed back on the performance of the next generation of plants. How plants perceive altered soil m...
nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
March 23, 2026 at 1:34 PM
Great to see this work published in New Phytologist! 🎉 It’s exciting to see the benzoxazinoid-conditioned soil microbiome in action. 🦠
This study represents an important step forward in understanding how plants shape their growth performance in response to soil microbiomes🌱
This study represents an important step forward in understanding how plants shape their growth performance in response to soil microbiomes🌱
🧫✨ Excited to share my first publication in microbiological food safety!
We investigated 🔍 ready-to-eat meat products in Switzerland for the presence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. A step toward improving food safety. Thanks to Elisabet Marti and the team! 🔬
www.frontiersin.org/journals/mic...
We investigated 🔍 ready-to-eat meat products in Switzerland for the presence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. A step toward improving food safety. Thanks to Elisabet Marti and the team! 🔬
www.frontiersin.org/journals/mic...
Frontiers | Phenotypic and genotypic characterization of antibiotic-resistant bacteria from Swiss ready-to-eat meat products
Antimicrobial resistance is a global health concern, which is partly driven by rising meat consumption, which has led to the intensive farming of livestock t...
www.frontiersin.org
September 11, 2025 at 5:47 AM
🧫✨ Excited to share my first publication in microbiological food safety!
We investigated 🔍 ready-to-eat meat products in Switzerland for the presence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. A step toward improving food safety. Thanks to Elisabet Marti and the team! 🔬
www.frontiersin.org/journals/mic...
We investigated 🔍 ready-to-eat meat products in Switzerland for the presence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. A step toward improving food safety. Thanks to Elisabet Marti and the team! 🔬
www.frontiersin.org/journals/mic...
Happy that my 3rd PhD paper is finally out 🎉 We show how maize root bacteria team up to degrade plant host toxins 🌱🦠🤝 Many thanks for the good teamwork to unravel this story!
SynCom of maize root bacteria: in team work, they detox differently. Interacting they redirect the metabolisation to an alternative degradation product.
Credits: @lisathoenen.bsky.social, Dr. Christine Pestalozzi & teams @unibas.ch and @unibe.ch.
journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...
Credits: @lisathoenen.bsky.social, Dr. Christine Pestalozzi & teams @unibas.ch and @unibe.ch.
journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...
Synthetic communities of maize root bacteria interact and redirect benzoxazinoid metabolization | mSphere
We investigated how maize root bacteria—alone or in community—tolerate and metabolize
antimicrobial compounds of their host plant. We found that the capacity to metabolize
such a compound impacts bact...
journals.asm.org
August 25, 2025 at 7:18 PM
Happy that my 3rd PhD paper is finally out 🎉 We show how maize root bacteria team up to degrade plant host toxins 🌱🦠🤝 Many thanks for the good teamwork to unravel this story!
Reposted by Lisa Thönen
A community of microorganisms that can reproduce the flavour attributes of premium chocolate, by fermenting cocoa beans, are reported in Nature Microbiology. go.nature.com/4mH9uOo 🧪
August 18, 2025 at 6:28 PM
A community of microorganisms that can reproduce the flavour attributes of premium chocolate, by fermenting cocoa beans, are reported in Nature Microbiology. go.nature.com/4mH9uOo 🧪
Finallly, the last chapter of my PhD thesis made it out as a preprint 🌽🧫🎉 In a community maize bacteria convert benzoxazinoids to different metabolites than when grown alone www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Synthetic communities of maize root bacteria interact and redirect benzoxazinoid metabolization
Plant roots are colonised by diverse microbial communities. These communities are shaped by root exudates including plant specialized metabolites. Benzoxazinoids are such secreted compounds of maize. ...
www.biorxiv.org
March 13, 2025 at 12:38 PM
Finallly, the last chapter of my PhD thesis made it out as a preprint 🌽🧫🎉 In a community maize bacteria convert benzoxazinoids to different metabolites than when grown alone www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Nice article about our work 🧫🌽🌾
Pesticides and excessive fertilizers harm crops and the environment. As an alternative, farmers can already buy “biologicals” - bacteria, fungi or mixes thereof. But recent research by @kschlaeppi.bsky.social and his team reveals why these often fall short and offers insights on improving them.
Plant’s favorite bacteria to promote crop yield.
To optimize their growth, plants shape the bacterial community on and around their roots. Finding out how they do so is key to develop new microbiological products for greater sustainability in agricu...
www.unibas.ch
February 27, 2025 at 6:57 AM
Nice article about our work 🧫🌽🌾