Rate My Professor Daniel Pletzer

Associate Professor Daniel Pletzer is a microbiologist in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Faculty of Biomedical Sciences, at the University of Otago. He obtained his BSc in Bioinformatics from the University of Applied Sciences Hagenberg, Austria, in 2009, an MSc in Molecular Genetics from Jacobs University Bremen, Germany, in 2011, and a PhD in Microbiology from Jacobs University Bremen in 2014, awarded summa cum laude for his thesis on drug export and nutrient import in bacterial model organisms Erwinia amylovora and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Following a postdoctoral position at Jacobs University Bremen from 2014 to 2015, he served as a Feodor-Lynen Postdoctoral Fellow from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation at the University of British Columbia, Canada, from 2015 to 2019, in Professor Robert E. W. Hancock's laboratory, researching host defense peptides, nanoparticles, peptidomimetics, bacterial stress responses, biofilms, persistence, ESKAPE pathogens, and animal infection models. In November 2019, he joined the University of Otago as a Lecturer in a tenure-track position, established the Pletzer Lab, and was promoted to Associate Professor.

Pletzer's research specializes in recalcitrant ESKAPE pathogens (Enterococcus faecium, Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Acinetobacter baumannii, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Enterobacter species), focusing on multidrug-resistant clinical isolates involved in biofilm infections and persistence, which are WHO critical priority pathogens causing severe hospital-acquired infections. His lab employs bioinformatics to understand microbial disease mechanisms, develops novel nanomedicines to combat antimicrobial resistance, and creates new antimicrobial strategies. Key publications include "Synergy between conventional antibiotics and anti-biofilm peptides in a murine, sub-cutaneous abscess model caused by recalcitrant ESKAPE pathogens" (PLoS Pathogens, 2018, with R. E. W. Hancock), "DJK-5, an anti-biofilm peptide, increases Staphylococcus aureus sensitivity to colistin killing in co-biofilms with Pseudomonas aeruginosa" (npj Biofilms & Microbiomes, 2025), "A biofilm-targeting lipo-peptoid to treat Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus co-infections" (Biofilm, 2025), "Using host-mimicking conditions and a murine cutaneous abscess model to identify synergistic antibiotic combinations effective against Pseudomonas aeruginosa" (Frontiers in Cellular & Infection Microbiology, 2024), and "From data to decisions: Leveraging artificial intelligence and machine learning in combating antimicrobial resistance: A comprehensive review" (Journal of Medical Systems, 2024). His scholarship has earned over 3,200 citations on ResearchGate. Awards include the Feodor-Lynen Postdoctoral Fellowship (Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, 2015), Cystic Fibrosis Canada Postdoctoral Research Fellowship Award (2017), Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research Postdoctoral Research Trainee Award (2018), and University of Otago Early Career Research Award (2024).