Educational Background
Ph.D. ( University of Tuebingen),
Genetics, 2005, Max-Planck Institute for Developmental Biology, Department
of Evolutionary Biology, Tuebingen, Germany
M.S. equivalent (University
of Cologne), Zoology, 2000, Institute for Zoology, Department for
Developmental Biology, University of Cologne, Germany
Research Interests
Nematodes have been my
main research and interest. During my Diploma and Ph.D. thesis work
I conducted experiments on free-living nematodes. Now, I am focusing
on plant-parasitic nematodes and their interactions with host plants.
In particular, I am interested
in understanding the function of several cyst nematode parasitism
gene candidates that are expressed in the esophageal gland cells during
the process of parasitism. The majority of these genes encode secreted
“pioneer” proteins meaning they have no homology to any
other proteins in existing databases. How do they enable the nematode
to parasitize the plant? What is their function? Currently, I am utilizing
a variety of approaches including RNA interference, ectopic expression
in plants, and yeast two-hybrid to understand their role in parasitism.
Publications
Kenning C.,
Kipping I., and Sommer R.J. 2004. Isolation of mutations with dumpy-like
phenotypes and of collagen genes in the nematode Pristionchus
pacificus. Genesis 40(3):176-183.
Presentations
Kenning C.
and Sommer R.J. 2004. Genomics in the free-living nematode Pristionchus
pacificus, IX European Multicolloquium of Parasitology, Valencia,
Spain (Poster).
Kenning C.
and Sommer R.J. 2003. Dpy mutants and collagens in Pristionchus
pacificus, International Worm Meeting, Los Angeles, USA (Poster).
Kenning C.,
Kipping I., Brand A., Sinz W., Witte H., Sommer R.J. 2002. A large
scale screen for dpy mutants in Pristionchus pacificus,
East Coast Worm Meeting, Durham, USA (Poster).
Kenning C.,
Schlak I., and Sommer R.J. 2001. Large scale analysis and genetic
characterization of dumpy mutants in Pristionchus pacificus.
International Worm Meeting, Los Angeles, USA (Poster).
Professional Memberships
Society of Nematology
American Phytopathological Society
