Team

Prof. Dr. Susanne Baldermann

E-Mail: susanne.baldermann@uni-bayreuth.de

Phone: +49 09221 / 407-1181 (Team Assistant) | +49 09221 / 407-1080

Postdoc

Dr. Maria Fitzner-van Bömmel

E-Mail: Maria.Fitzner@uni-bayreuth.de

Phone: +49 9221 / 407-1087

PostDoc (Akademische Rätin)

Maria Fitzner-van Bömmel studied Food Chemistry at the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg and completed her diploma thesis in 2018 at the Leibniz Institute of Plant Biochemistry, where she investigated metabolic changes under phosphate and iron deficiency in Arabidopsis thaliana. She subsequently pursued her PhD at the University of Potsdam and the Leibniz Institute of Ornamental and Vegetable Crops, completing it in 2023 with a focusing the feasibility of halophytic crops as future alternative vegetable from saline indoor cultivation. After a six‑month Postdoc at University College Cork in Ireland focusing on vitamin D accumulation in plants, she joined the Chair of Food Metabolome as a postdoctoral researcher in 2024.

Her research explores how abiotic factors influence the formation, composition, and stability of metabolites in food. She is particularly interested in non‑animal food sources, especially plants and fungi adapted to saline environments, and how such foods can contribute to future diets. Analytical chemistry plays a central role in her work.

Maria Fitzner-van Bömmel also teaches at the University of Bayreuth in the areas of food chemistry, analytical chemistry and research and study skills.

Publication overview can be found at: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0320-9016

Dr. Prasath Balaji Sivaprakasam Padmanaban

E-Mail: prasath.sivaprakasam@uni-bayreuth.de

Phone: +49 9221 / 407-1087

PostDoc

Prasath balaji SP studied Agricultural Sciences at the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University and completed his bachelor's degree in 2018. He subsequently pursued an MSc in Agrigenomics at Kiel University in 2020. During his master's research at the Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research (IPK), he gained expertise in plant phenotyping, quantitative trait locus (QTL) analysis, and plant developmental biology.

He completed his PhD in Natural Sciences at the Technical University of Munich while conducting research at Helmholtz Munich. His doctoral work investigated plant–microbe and fungus–fungus interactions using metabolomics, volatilomics, and transcriptomics approaches, with a particular focus on the molecular mechanisms underlying beneficial microbial associations and ecological communication.

In 2025, he joined the University of Bayreuth as a Postdoctoral researcher. His research explores the cultivation of edible halophytes in controlled urban environments. He is particularly interested in understanding the factors that influence plant growth and nutritional composition.

For a complete publication list, see ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9735-7238