Pierre Stallforth

Prof. Dr. Pierre Stallforth

Paleobiotechnology · Head +49 3641 532-1527 pierre.stallforth@leibniz-hki.de

Curriculum vitae

Main Research Areas
  • Natural products from prehistoric samples
  • Natural products from microbial interactions (microbial predator-prey associations, amoebae-bacteria interactions)
  • Structure elucidation and biosynthetic studies
Professional Career
2021 Professor for Bioorganic Chemistry and Paleobiotechnology, Friedrich Schiller University Jena
2020 Head of the Department Paleobiotechnology, Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology, (Hans-Knöll-Institute, Jena) 
2019 - 2020 Interim Professorship Organic Chemistry University of Hamburg 
2013 - 2019 Junior research group leader, Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology, (Hans-Knöll-Institute, Jena) 
2011-2013 Postdoc, Harvard Medical School, Dept. of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, Boston, Supervisor: Prof. Jon Clardy
2006-2010 Graduate studies (Dr. sc. ETH Zurich), ETH Zurich and Max Planck Institute, colloids and interfaces, biomolecular systems, Berlin supervisors: Prof. Peter H. Seeberger “synthesis of bacterial carbohydrates and glycolipids for application in novel vaccine srategies”
2002-2006 MSc studies chemistry, St Edmund Hall, University of Oxford (1st class, being placed 2nd out of 150 students)
Master thesis, University of Oxford “dynamics of a quantum dot in a magnetic field” (1st class)
2002 Abitur (A-levels) at the Paul-Klee-Gymnasium Gersthofen, Germany
Awards · Appointments · Scientific Activities
2020 Academy of Sciences Göttingen, Academy Prize for Chemistry
2019 DECHEMA Research Award Natural Product Research
2018 Medac Research Award
2018 Best Talk Prize, Bioorganic Symposium, Bochum 2018
2018 Max Buchner Stipend, DECHEMA
2017 Prize for the Best Talk (2017 Dicty Meeting)
2016 Medac Research Award
2014  Fellowship of the Daimler and Benz Foundation
2012 Feodor Lynen-postdoc fellowship (Humboldt Foundation)
2011 Swiss National Fund Postdoc fellowship
2007 PhD fellowship, Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes (German Academic Merit Foundation)
2005 Gibbs prize for excellence in the final examination
2005-2007 Fellowship of the Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes
2003 and 2004 Turbutt prize for excellence in practical organic chemistry
2003-2006 University of Oxford, open scholarship
2002 Prize for the best Abitur (A-levels) at the Paul-Klee-Gymnaisum

Publications

Götze S, Vij R, Burow K, Thome N, Urbat L, Schlosser N, Pflanze S, Müller R, Hänsch VG, Schlabach K, Fazlikhani L, Walther G, Dahse HM, Regestein L, Brunke S, Hube B, Hertweck C, Franken P, Stallforth P (2023) Ecological niche-inspired genome mining leads to the discovery of crop-protecting nonribosomal lipopeptides featuring a transient amino acid building block. J Am Chem Soc 145(4), 2342-2353.
Klapper M*, Hübner A*, Ibrahim A*, Wasmuth I, Borry M, Haensch VG, Zhang S, Al-Jammal WK, Suma H, Fellows Yates JA, Frangenberg J, Velsko IM, Chowdhury S, Herbst R, Bratovanov EV, Dahse HM, Horch T, Hertweck C, González Morales MR, Straus LG, Vilotijevic I, Warinner C, Stallforth P (2023) Natural products from reconstructed bacterial genomes of the Middle and Upper paleolithic. Science 380(6645), 619-624.
Pflanze S, Mukherji R, Ibrahim A, Günther M, Götze S, Chowdhury S, Reimer L, Regestein L, Stallforth P (2023) Nonribosomal peptides protect Pseudomonas nunensis 4A2e from amoebal and nematodal predation. Chem Sci 14(41), 11573-11581.
Seibold PS, Lawrinowitz S, Raztsou I, Gressler M, Arndt HD, Stallforth P, Hoffmeister D (2023) Bifurcate evolution of quinone synthetases in basidiomycetes. Fungal Biol Biotechnol 10(1), 14.
Stallforth P*, Mittag M, Brakhage AA, Hertweck C, Hellmich UA* (2023) Functional modulation of chemical mediators in microbial communities. Trends Biochem Sci 48(1), 71-81. (Review)
Bando Y, Hou Y, Seyfarth L, Probst J, Götze S, Bogacz M, Hellmich UA, Stallforth P, Mittag M, Arndt HD* (2022) Total synthesis and structure correction of the cyclic lipodepsipeptide orfamide A. Chemistry 28(20), e202104417.
Declas N, Maynard JRJ, Menin L, Gasilova N, Götze S, Sprague JL, Stallforth P, Matile S, Waser J* (2022) Tyrosine bioconjugation with hypervalent iodine. Chem Sci 13(43), 12808-12817.
Günther M*, Reimer C*, Herbst R*, Kufs JE, Rautschek J, Ueberschaar N, Zhang S, Peschel G, Reimer L, Regestein L, Valiante V, Hillmann F#, Stallforth P# (2022) Yellow polyketide pigment suppresses premature hatching in social amoeba. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 119(43), e2116122119.
Kufs JE, Reimer C, Stallforth P, Hillmann F, Regestein L* (2022) The potential of amoeba-based processes for natural product syntheses. Curr Opin Biotechnol 77, 102766. (Review)
Baunach M, Chowdhury S, Stallforth P, Dittmann E (2021) The landscape of recombination events that create nonribosomal peptide diversity. Mol Biol Evol 38(5), 2116-2130.

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