member of EAM, EMBO and Leopoldina – National Academy of Sciences

Prof Dr Jörg Vogel studied undergraduate Biochemistry at Imperial College London, UK and was awarded his Biochemistry Diploma at Humboldt University, Germany, where he also obtained his PhD with a thesis on Group II intron splicing. Between 2004 and 2010 he was part of an independent Research Group at the Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology, Berlin. He became full Professor and Director of the Institute for Molecular Infection Biology at the University of Würzburg in 2009. Since 2017, he is the Founding Director of the Helmholtz Institute for RNA-based

Infection and currently manages the Vogel Laboratory, focusing on RNA Biology. The lab is interested investigating the diversity of noncoding RNA functions and RNA-binding proteins in major bacterial pathogens and in the hundreds of different bacteria that make up the human microbiome. Projects focus on several bacteria from Salmonella typhimurium to anaerobic microbes that are associated with colorectal cancer such as Fusobacterium nucleatum. New RNA deep sequencing-based techniques are being developed to capture the RNA world of any microbe, ideally at the single cell level. The aim is to understand how and why bacteria use RNA as a regulator during infection and exploit this knowledge to target pathogens and edit the microbiota with precision. Recent work has applied this knowledge to the genome of SARS-COV-2, as the new coronavirus does not consist of DNA, but of RNA and using the knowledge and experience of the lab and others at Helmholtz Institute for RNA-based Infection Research to find a means to combat the virus.

In 2017, he received a Leibniz Prize, Germany’s most prestigious research award, for his work combining RNA biology and infection research and in 2019  the Feldberg Prize for German-British exchange in life sciences.

Current Affiliations:

• Institute of Molecular Infection Biology, University of Würzburg
• Visiting Professor, Imperial College London, UK (2016-2019)
• Elected member, European Academy of Microbiology (since 2015)
• Elected member, German National Academy of Sciences (since 2013)
• Elected member, American Academy of Microbiology (since 2013)
• EMBO Member (since 2011)

Past Affiliations:

• 2004 – 2010 Max Planck Research Group Leader, MPI for Infection Biology, Berlin, Germany
• 2002 – 2003 EMBO Fellow, Hebrew University, Hadassah Medical School, Jerusalem, Israel
• 2000 – 2001 Postdoc, Department of Cell & Molecular Biology, Uppsala University, Sweden
• 1999 Dr. rer. nat., Humboldt University, Berlin, Germany
• 1997 Diplom Biochemistry, Humboldt University
• 1994 Undergraduate Biochemistry, Imperial College London, UK