Paul Schulze-Lefert

Prof. Dr. Paul Schulze-Lefert was trained in biochemistry and genetics at Marburg, Freiburg, and Cologne Universities, Germany. After a Ph.D. thesis on cis-and trans-active factors regulating plant gene expression in response to light, he became interested in fundamental processes controlling plant microbe interactions. Major research areas are the innate immune system of plants and functions of the plant microbiota. Dr. Schulze-Lefert worked from 1989 to 1990 as postdoctoral fellow in Francesco Salamini’s department at the MPIZ Cologne on the development of DNA marker technologies in plant genomes. In 1991 he started his own research group at the RWTH Aachen with a focus on plant disease resistance mechanisms to fungal pathogens. From 1995 to 2000, he held a senior research position and supervised a research team in the Sainsbury Laboratory at the John Innes Centre, England. Since 2000 he is head of the Department of Plant Microbe Interactions at the Max-Planck-Institut für Züchtungsforschung (MPIZ), Cologne, and Honorary Professor at the University of Cologne since 2003. Dr. Schulze-Lefert is an elected EMBO member since 2006. In 2010 he was elected to the National Academy of Sciences, USA, and to the “Deutsche Akademie der Naturforscher Leopoldina”, Germany. He was elected Fellow to the American Academy of Microbiology in 2011. Much of his current work is dedicated to bridging traditional research areas like genetics, biochemistry, and cell biology in the endeavor of increasing their understanding of the molecular mechanisms that control plant microbe interactions.