Wolfgang Koester
Adjunct Professor, Department of Veterinary Microbiology

• BSc in Biology, University of Bielefeld, Germany
• MSc in Microbiology, Biochemistry, Genetics, and Physiology of Plants, University of Tübingen, Germany
• PhD in Biology ; Microbiology , University of Tübingen, Germany
• "Habilitation" in Microbiology, University of Tübingen, Germany

Wolfgang Koester is a research scientist at the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization (VIDO) and an adjunct professor in the Department of Veterinary Microbiology at the Western College of Veterinary Medicine (WCVM), University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.

Dr. Koester currently holds the “NSERC/Bioniche Associate Industrial Research Chair in Vaccines to Reduce Food and Water Contamination” with the long-term goal to develop effective intervention strategies in order to reduce the amount of bacterial pathogens in animals used for food production. He is interested in various aspects of food and water safety, virulence mechanisms of pathogenic bacteria and host-pathogen interactions. 

As a post-doctorate fellow of the German Science Foundation (DFG), he investigated bacterial vitamin B12 uptake in the laboratory of Professor R.J. Kadner, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, USA. As well, he worked as an assistant professor on bacterial iron transport at the University of Tübingen, Germany. 

He was a visiting scientist (Cantarini Fellowship of the Institut Pasteur and Fellowship of the CNRS) at the Institut Pasteur, Paris, France 
As a senior scientist, he was leading the group 'Drinking Water Microbiology', at the Swiss Federal Institute for Environmental Science and Technology (EAWAG), Dübendorf, Switzerland. There he studied survival strategies of bacteria in the environment, molecular detection methods for microbes, and metal homeostasis in unicellular green algae. 

From 1999-2003 he served as Swiss Delegate and “invited expert” at various events related to safe drinking water of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the World Health Organization (WHO).

Desin TS, Lam PK, Koch B. Mickael C, Berberov E, Wisner AL, Townsend HG. Potter AA, Koester W. 2009. "Salmonella enterica serovar enteritidis pathogenicity island 1 is not essential for but facilitates rapid systemic spread in chickens." Infection and Immunity. 2866-75.

Desin TS, Lam PK, Koch B, Mickael C, Berberov E, Wisner AL, Townsend HG, Potter AA, Koester W. 2009. "Salmonella enterica serovar enteritidis pathogenicity island 1 is not essential for but facilitates rapid systemic spread in chickens." Infection and Immunity. 2866-75