(2015)
Three redundant synthetases secure redox-active pigment production in the basidiomycete Paxillus involutus.
Chem Biol 22,
1325-1334.

Prof. Dr. Pierre Stallforth
Paleobiotechnology · Head +49 3641 532-1527 pierre.stallforth@leibniz-hki.deCurriculum 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
since 2022 | Deputy Director, Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology – Hans Knöll Institute (Leibniz-HKI) Jena |
since 2021 | Professor for Bioorganic Chemistry and Paleobiotechnology, Friedrich Schiller University Jena |
since 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
2024 | Medac Research Award 2023 |
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
(2015)
Total Synthesis of Legionaminic Acid as Basis for Serological Studies
J Am Chem Soc 137,
2848-2851.
(2014)
A semi-synthetic carbohydrate-lipid vaccine that protects against S. pneumoniae in mice
Nat Chem Biol 10,
950-956.
(2014)
Atlas for drug discovery.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 111(10),
3655-3656.
(2013)
A bacterial symbiont is converted from an inedible producer of beneficial molecules into food by a single mutation in the gacA gene.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 110(36),
14528-14533.
(2013)
X-ray crystallography: One size fits most.
Nature 495(7442),
456-457.
(2012)
Protein evolution: when two become three.
Curr Biol 22(17),
R685-R687.
(2010)
Towards the synthesis of a Yersinia pestis cell wall polysaccharide: enantioselective synthesis of an L-glycero-D-manno-heptose building block.
Chem Commun (Camb) 46(23),
4106-4108.
(2010)
De novo synthesis of a 2-acetamido-4-amino-2,4,6-trideoxy-D-galactose (AAT) building block for the preparation of a Bacteroides fragilis A1 polysaccharide fragment.
Org Lett 12(7),
1624-1627.
(2008)
De novo synthesis of a D-galacturonic acid thioglycoside as key to the total synthesis of a glycosphingolipid from Sphingomonas yanoikuyae.
Org Lett 10(8),
1573-1576.