Research interests
In my work, I focus on the analysis of genomic variation, i.e., single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP), and their potential regulatory role during gene expression. Transcriptional regulation of gene expression in higher organisms is fundamental for numerous biological processes. These processes are mainly controlled by a special class of regulatory proteins, the transcription factors (TFs), and their combinatorial interplay. Various genetic programs, such as environmental adaptation, tissue development, or disease control, are governed by the binding of TFs to short DNA motifs, called transcription factor binding sites (TFBS), in the regulatory regions of their target genes. SNPs located in promoter regions can alter TFBSs leading to a change in the binding affinity of TFs and, thus, affect gene expression. Such SNPs are referred to as regulatory SNPs (rSNPs).

Education
03/2023: Dr. rer. nat. – Breeding informatics, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen. Dissertation title: “Investigation of the Regulatory Processes of Gene Expression in Animal and Plant Sciences”
06/2019: M.Sc. Angewandte Informatik – Georg-August-Universität Göttingen
09/2016: B.Sc. Bioinformatik – Goethe-Universität Frankfurt

Publications
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7640-6523
Klees, S., Heinrich, F., Schmitt, A. O., & Gültas, M. (2022). agReg-SNPdb-Plants: A Database of Regulatory SNPs for Agricultural Plant Species. Biology, 11(5), 684.
Klees, S., Schlüter, J. S., Schellhorn, J., Bertram, H., Kurzweg, A. C., Ramzan, F., Schmitt, A. O. & Gültas, M. (2022). Comparative Investigation of Gene Regulatory Processes Underlying Avian Influenza Viruses in Chicken and Duck. Biology, 11(2), 219.
Klees, S.*, Heinrich, F.*, Schmitt, A. O., & Gültas, M. (2021). agReg-SNPdb: A Database of Regulatory SNPs for Agricultural Animal Species. Biology, 10(8), 790. (* These authors contributed equally to this work.)
Klees, S., Lange, T. M., Bertram, H., Rajavel, A., Schlüter, J. S., Lu, K., Schmitt, A. O., & Gültas, M. (2021). In Silico Identification of the Complex Interplay between Regulatory SNPs, Transcription Factors, and Their Related Genes in Brassica napus L. Using Multi-Omics Data. International journal of molecular sciences, 22(2), 789.
Ramzan, F.*, Klees, S.*, Schmitt, A. O., Cavero, D., & Gültas, M. (2020). Identification of Age-Specific and Common Key Regulatory Mechanisms Governing Eggshell Strength in Chicken Using Random Forests. Genes, 11(4), 464. (* These authors contributed equally to this work.)
Rajavel, A., Klees, S., Hui, Y., Schmitt, A. O., & Gültas, M. (2022). Deciphering the Molecular Mechanism Underlying African Animal Trypanosomiasis by Means of the 1000 Bull Genomes Project Genomic Dataset. Biology, 11(5), 742.
Haleem, A., Klees, S., Schmitt, A. O., & Gültas, M. (2022). Deciphering Pleiotropic Signatures of Regulatory SNPs in Zea mays L. Using Multi-Omics Data and Machine Learning Algorithms. International journal of molecular sciences, 23, 5121.
Rajavel, A., Klees, S., Schlüter, J. S., Bertram, H., Lu, K., Schmitt, A. O., & Gültas, M. (2021). Unravelling the Complex Interplay of Transcription Factors Orchestrating Seed Oil Content in Brassica napus L. International journal of molecular sciences, 22(3), 1033.
Strobl, F., Klees, S., & Stelzer, E. H. (2017). Light Sheet-based Fluorescence Microscopy of Living or Fixed and Stained Tribolium castaneum Embryos. JoVE (Journal of Visualized Experiments), (122), e55629.