Antibiotics with Drama: Evi Stegmann on the Evolving Logic of Microbial Molecules

For Dr. Evi Stegmann, antibiotic discovery isn’t just a scientific pursuit — it’s a race against resistance. At the University of Tübingen, she leads research into how microbes biosynthesize structurally complex and medically urgent compounds. In this interview, Evi reflects on the transformation of the field, the role of AI in discovery, and why she’s most fascinated by the evolutionary design behind biosynthetic gene clusters.

Evi Stegmann
Evi 2

Evi’s research centers on understanding and optimizing biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs), the sets of genes microbes use to produce natural products like antibiotics. Her team uses genome mining to identify promising clusters, and then applies genetic and biochemical methods to decipher how the molecules are assembled. By studying how these clusters evolve and are organized, Evi hopes to reveal the biological logic behind them, insights that could lead to better engineering strategies for producing new antibiotics when they’re needed most.