Areas of research:
1) Secondary metabolites of fungal endophytes, fungi associated with algae, fungi associated with sponges and their potential for the development of new agrar- and pharmaceutical products.
2) Investigations on the diversity of fungi associated with plants, macroalgae and sponges with molecular and conventional methods.
3) Physiological and histological investigations of the endophyte-host interaction, in order to understand:
Why do these interactions remain asymptomatic?
When are these interactions mutualistic and when antagonistic?
What role do fungal virulence, plant defense reactions, synthesis of plant hormones and secondary metabolites of fungi play?
4) Role of endophytic fungi in the salt tolerance of halotolerant plants: molecular, biochemical and physiological parameters.
5) Biological control of weeds with mycoherbicides, in particular of Cirsium arvense, with fungal pathogens.