Postdoctoral research fellow in Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research-UFZ,Germany.
Biography
Ralph Feltens is Postdoctoral research fellow in Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research-UFZ,Germany.His primary research interest is in the field of molecular biology in general and especially in the application of molecular biology methods to resolve medical questions. The development of modern technologies such as the protein-based mass spectrometry has brought about the possibility to tackle research questions in a way that has not been technically feasible just a few years ago.To date, species determination has been the dominion of DNA- and RNA-based applications (polymerase chain reaction, PCR). Besides their high specificity, they also possess a heretofore unparalleled sensitivity, as an intrinsic amplification of the starting material is a hallmark of these methods. Contrasting with this is the not negligible expenditure of time necessary for establishing each application as well as the comparatively high material costs accrueing when dealing with high sample numbers. Especially aggravating is the fact that a PCR reaction is able to detect only pre-defined, specific pathogens. Due to these limitations, the method is not particularly suitable for broad-spectrum pathogen screening.
