Vice-President

Scientific Background

• Diploma in chemistry at the University of Karlsruhe with focus on physical and organic chemistry.
• 1997 PhD Thesis on pericyclic reactions in the synthesis and biosynthesis of brown algal pheromones at the University of Bonn in the group of Prof. Dr. W. Boland. Focus on organic synthesis, analytical chemistry and chemical ecology.
• 1997 Postdoc in the groups of Bruce Ganem and David B. Wilson at the Cornell University in Ithaca, NY. Biochemical and biophysical characterisation of the phenylalanine receptor site in the E. coli P-protein. Focus on biochemistry, biophysics and basic genetics.
• 1998 Group leader at the Max-Planck-Institute for Chemical Ecology, Jena, Germany. Work in aquatic chemical ecology with focus on oxylipin chemistry and chemical ecology, chemical ecology of the plankton, dynamic responses of algae to stress, plant physiology and analytical chemistry. Habilitation at the University of Jena.
• 2005 Assistant Professor for Organic Chemistry at the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL). The group interests were maintained and extended to the evolution of oxylipin based chemical defense mechanisms of photosynthetically active organisms and highly polar zwitterionic molecules in plankton interactions.
• Since 2007 Full Professor and chair for Analytical Chemistry Bioorganic Analytics at the Friedrich-Schiller University Jena, Germany. Please refer to the research plan below for a detailed information about our research activities.
• Since 2015 he is also a Fellow of the Max Planck Society.

Research
Prof. Pohnert´s current research takes a highly interdisciplinary approach to understanding the nature and role of chemical signals that shape complex communities in the aquatic environment.  A tool of fundamental importance is comparative community metabolomics, to first identify the signals present in natural interactions.  Isolation, spectroscopy and organic synthesis of natural products is combined with transcriptomics, biochemistry and ecology, with the ultimate goal to understand the basis of community interactions in plankton and biofilm communities. 

Coordinated Research Programs

2007 till today Jena School for Microbial Communication (JSMC)

2007 till today IMPRS Ecological interactions

2013 till today CRC AquaDiva

2014 till today Marie Curie Training Network ALFF

2014 till today SFB ChemBioSys (Co-Speaker)

From 2019 DFG Cluster of Excellene Balance of the Microverse

Administrative Experience

2010-2013 and 2016 till today director of the institute of Inorganic and Analytical Chemistry, FSU Jena

From 2007 Chair for Bioorganic Analytics, FSU Jena

From 2010 director of the study program Master Chemical Biology, FSU Jena

From 2014 directorate Jena Center for Microbial Communication

From 2014 co-speaker CRC ChemBioSys

2018 Organizing team Cluster of Excellence Balance of the Microverse

2019 Vice-President for Research, FSU Jena

Awards and stipends (selection)

• Fellowship of the Max Planck Society
• Teaching award of the Friedrich Schiller University Jena
• Lichtenberg Professorship of the Volkswagen Foundation
• DECHEMA award on Natural Products Chemistry
• Chemiepreis of the Göttinger Akademie der Wissenschaften