Stefan graduated from Columbia University in New York City where he worked with Richard Kessin on the question of how cells differentiate to take on new tasks. Using the social amoebae Dictyostelium discoideum as a model - this organism consists only of two basic cell types - he identified a protein degradation pathway as a crucial contributor of cellular differentiation (click here). Class work with Howard Shuman and Aaron Mitchell inspired him to focus on bacterial pathogenesis and to help develop the Dictyostelium host model system. Since then he has used this model to study the pathogenesis of the bacterial pathogens Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Vibrio cholerae. While a postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of John Mekalanos at Harvard Medical School, he discovered that the type VI secretion pathway of Vibrio cholerae acts as a virulence trait. As a faculty member of the Department of Medical Microbiology & Immunology, Stefan is expanding his work on the molecular mechanisms of microbial pathogenesis. Stefan has received many awards throughout his careear including: AHFMR Scholar (Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research salary award) (2009–2016), Postdoctoral Fellowship Award from the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation (2001–2003), PhD Scholarship Award from the Federal Department of Research and Technology (1992–1994), and Fellowship Award from the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) (1989–1990). When Stefan is not in lab he likes to travel with his wife, host dinner parties at his house, and cook authentic German food.