Prof. Dr. Christian Hertweck

Biomolecular Chemistry · Head +49 3641 532-1101 christian.hertweck@leibniz-hki.de

Curriculum vitae

Main Research Areas

Investigation of biosynthetic pathways of the secondary metabolism of bacteria and fungi
Use of enzymes and recombinant microorganisms for synthetic implementation
Isolation and structural identification of natural products
Molecular basis of fungus-bacteria-interactions

Professional Career

2008	Rejection of professorship, Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zurich, Switzerland
2008 – 2023	Deputy Director at the Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology – Hans Knöll Institute (HKI) Jena, Germany
2008	Rejection of professorship, Technical University Munich, Germany
Since 2006	Head of Department of Biomolecular Chemistry, HKI Jena
Since 2006	Professor (W3) and chair of Natural Product Chemistry, Friedrich Schiller University Jena (FSU), Germany
2006	Habilitation (Venia legendi) in organic chemistry, FSU Jena
2005	Rejection of professorship (W3), Rheinische Friedrich Willhelms University of Bonn, Germany
2005	Acceptance of professorship (W3), FSU Jena
2001– 2005	Head of junior research group, HKI Jena
1999 – 2000	Research assistant, University of Washington, Seattle, USA, funded through a Feodor Lynen fellowship for postdocs (Alexander von Humboldt Foundation)
1996 – 1999	PhD, Friedrich Willhelms University Bonn and Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology, Jena, funded through a Max Planck doctoral fellowship
1996	Diploma in chemistry at the Friedrich Willhelms University Bonn, Germany

Awards · Appointments · Scientific Activities

2015	Member of the National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina
2015	Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Award
2015	David Gottlieb Memorial Lecture Award, University of Illinois
2014	Wilhelm Manchot-Research Professor
Since 2013	Member of the editorial board Bioorganic Chemistry
Since 2012	Editor, Chemistry & Biology
Since 2012	Member of the faculty of 1000
Since 2011	Member of the editorial board, Organic and Biomolecular Chemistry
Since 2011	Member of the editorial board, Journal of Antibiotics
2011	NPR lecture award
Since 2010	Member of the editorial board, ChemBioChem
2009 – 2012	Member of the editorial board, Chemistry & Biology
2006	Research prize of the Dr. Otto Röhm-Memorial-Foundation
Since 2005	Member of the Association for General and Applied Microbiology (VAAM)
2005	DECHEMA award for natural product research
2005	Science award for life sciences and physics from the Beutenberg Campus Jena e.V.
2005	Thuringian research award (category: basic research)
Since 2003	Member of the programme committee, Natural Product Meeting, Irsee
Since 2002	Member of the DECHEMA Society for Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology
Since 2001	Member of the Gesellschaft Deutscher Chemiker (GDCh)

Topics

Medicinal natural products

Biosynthetic pathways

Genome mining

Biotransformations

Microbial interactions

Publications

Lenz C, Dörner S, Trottmann F, Hertweck C, Sherwood A, Hoffmeister D (2022) Assessment of bioactivity-modulating pseudo-ring formation in psilocin and related tryptamines. ChemBioChem 23(13), e202200183.

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Little R, Trottmann F, Preissler M, Hertweck C (2022) An intramodular thioesterase domain catalyses chain release in the biosynthesis of a cytotoxic virulence factor. RSC Chem Biol 3(9), 1121-1128.

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Little RF, Hertweck C (2022) Chain release mechanisms in polyketide and non-ribosomal peptide biosynthesis. Nat Prod Rep 39(1), 163-205. (Review)

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Michel M, Benítez-Buelga C, Calvo PA, Hanna BMF, Mortusewicz O, Masuyer G, Davies J, Wallner O, Sanjiv K, Albers JJ, Castañeda-Zegarra S, Jemth AS, Visnes T, Sastre-Perona A, Danda AN, Homan EJ, Marimuthu K, Zhenjun Z, Chi CN, Sarno A, Wiita E, von Nicolai C, Komor AJ, Rajagopal V, Müller S, Hank EC, Varga M, Scaletti ER, Pandey M, Karsten S, Haslene-Hox H, Loevenich S, Marttila P, Rasti A, Mamonov K, Ortis F, Schömberg F, Loseva O, Stewart J, D'Arcy-Evans N, Koolmeister T, Henriksson M, Michel D, de Ory A, Acero L, Calvete O, Scobie M, Hertweck C, Vilotijevic I, Kalderén C, Osorio A, Perona R, Stolz A, Stenmark P, Berglund UW, de Vega M, Helleday T (2022) Small-molecule activation of OGG1 increases oxidative DNA damage repair by gaining a new function. Science 376(6600), 1471-1476.

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Molloy, E. M., Feldmann R., Hertweck C. (2022) Peptide splicing is a prevalent biosynthetic strategy for installing β-amino acid pharmacophores CellPress [Epub ahead of print] (Review)

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Morales-Amador A, Souto ML, Hertweck C, Fernández JJ, García-Altares M (2022) Rapid screening of polyol polyketides from marine Dinoflagellates. Anal Chem 94(41), 14205-14213.

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Pourmasoumi F,^* De S,^* Peng H, Trottmann F, Hertweck C, Kries H (2022) Proof-reading thioesterase boosts activity of engineered nonribosomal peptide synthetase. ACS Chem Biol 17(9), 2382-2388.

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Richter I, Radosa S, Cseresnyés Z, Ferling I, Büttner H, Niehs SP, Gerst R, Figge MT, Hillmann F, Hertweck C (2022) Toxin-producing endosymbionts shield pathogenic fungus against micropredators. mBio 13(5), e0144022.

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Sharma G, Islam ST, Rahi P, Silby MW, Giovannelli D, Welander PV, Ehling-Schulz M, Chaudhry V, Molloy E, Hertweck C, Mundra S, Kalia VC, Lal R, Singh Y, Ruby E, Weigel C, Kolter R (2022) Reply to Oren et al., "New phylum names harmonize prokaryotic nomenclature". mBio 13(5), e0232322. (Review)

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Trottmann F, Ishida K, Ishida-Ito M, Kries H, Groll M, Hertweck C (2022) Pathogenic bacteria remodel central metabolic enzyme to build a cyclopropanol warhead. Nat Chem 14(8), 884-890.

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