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

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 (1^st class, being placed 2^nd out of 150 students) Master thesis, University of Oxford “dynamics of a quantum dot in a magnetic field” (1^st 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

Topics

Paleobiotechnology

Polymicrobial communities

Amoebae-bacteria interactions

Polyketides in Dictyostelium discoideum

Publications

Suma, H, Stallforth, P (2024) Pleiotropic regulation of bacterial toxin production and Allee effect govern microbial predator–prey interactions. bioRxiv [Preprint]

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Zhang S, Stallforth P (2024) Biofilms and exopolysaccharides in Pseudomonas aeruginosa: pathogenesis, immune evasion, and lung–brain signaling during pneumonia. Signal Transduc Target Ther 9(1), 204. (Review)

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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)

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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.

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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.

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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.

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