The aim of our research is the development of systems biological approaches for the integrative analysis of large-scale data sets in order to elucidate pathomechanisms underlying human diseases and to understand microbial strategies of adaptation to environmental challenges. As a guiding principle we are closely interacting with clinical and experimental collaborators to analyse large-scale data sets and derive experimentally testable hypotheses from these data sets in an iterative cycle of data analysis, modelling and wet-lab experiments. Focus areas of current research include the elucidation of common mechanisms underlying human diseases (with a particular focus on aging), the development of modelling approaches that allow to study metabolic interactions within microbial communities as well as with the host and the identification of molecular mechanisms that enable pathogens to rapidly adapt to changing conditions during infection.