We are fascinated by the fact, that the microbiome affects nutrition, development, immunity and even behavior of an animal. In our research, we are investigating the underlying interactions between animals and bacteria, while focusing on the communication from host-to-microbe, microbe-to-host and microbe-to-microbe. We use the cnidarian model systems Hydra and Nematostella to study fundamental principles of animal-microbe interactions at the molecular, cellular and organismal level.