Sebastian Bonhoeffer (born 1965 in

Tübingen Tübingen (, , Swabian: ''Dibenga'') is a traditional university city in central Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated south of the state capital, Stuttgart, and developed on both sides of the Neckar and Ammer rivers. about one in thre ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...

) is a German biologist at the

ETH Zürich (colloquially) , former_name = eidgenössische polytechnische Schule , image = ETHZ.JPG , image_size = , established = , type = Public , budget = CHF 1.896 billion (2021) , rector = Günther Dissertori , president = Joël Mesot , ac ...

and Principal of the Collegium Helveticum.

Life and Works

Bonhoeffer studied cello in Basel under

Heinrich Schiff Heinrich Schiff (18 November 1951 – 23 December 2016) was an Austrian cellist and conductor. Early life Heinrich Schiff was born on 18 November 1951 in Gmunden, Austria. His parents, Helga (née Riemann) and Helmut Schiff, were composers. He ...

and physics in Munich und Vienna. In 1995, he did his doctorate with Martin A. Nowak under Robert May at the Institute of Zoology at the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the world's second-oldest university in contin ...

on the

population dynamics Population dynamics is the type of mathematics used to model and study the size and age composition of populations as dynamical systems. History Population dynamics has traditionally been the dominant branch of mathematical biology, which has ...

and evolution of viral diseases. He worked as a

postdoctoral fellow A postdoctoral fellow, postdoctoral researcher, or simply postdoc, is a person professionally conducting research after the completion of their doctoral studies (typically a PhD). The ultimate goal of a postdoctoral research position is to pu ...

at the University of Oxford and

Rockefeller University The Rockefeller University is a Private university, private Medical research, biomedical Research university, research and graduate-only university in New York City, New York (state), New York. It focuses primarily on the biological and medica ...

. In 1998, he was appointed junior group leader at the

Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research The Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research (FMI) is a biomedical research institute founded in 1970. Based in Basel, Switzerland, the FMI is affiliated with the University of Basel and the Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Resear ...

in Basel. In 2001, Sebastian Bonhoeffer was awarded a research professorship by the

Swiss National Science Foundation The Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF, German: ''Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der wissenschaftlichen Forschung'', SNF; French: ''Fonds national suisse de la recherche scientifique'', FNS; Italian: ''Fondo nazionale svizzero ...

ETH Zurich (colloquially) , former_name = eidgenössische polytechnische Schule , image = ETHZ.JPG , image_size = , established = , type = Public , budget = CHF 1.896 billion (2021) , rector = Günther Dissertori , president = Joël Mesot , a ...

. He has been Professor of

Theoretical Biology Mathematical and theoretical biology, or biomathematics, is a branch of biology which employs theoretical analysis, mathematical models and abstractions of the living organisms to investigate the principles that govern the structure, development a ...

at the Department of Environmental Systems Science and since 2005 and Director of the Collegium Helveticum since 2020. Sebastian Bonhoeffer's research concerns the evolution and

population biology The term population biology has been used with different meanings. In 1971 Edward O. Wilson ''et al''. used the term in the sense of applying mathematical models to population genetics, community ecology, and population dynamics. Alan Hastings us ...

bacteria Bacteria (; singular: bacterium) are ubiquitous, mostly free-living organisms often consisting of one biological cell. They constitute a large domain of prokaryotic microorganisms. Typically a few micrometres in length, bacteria were am ...

and

viruses A virus is a submicroscopic infectious agent that replicates only inside the living cells Cell most often refers to: * Cell (biology), the functional basic unit of life Cell may also refer to: Locations * Monastic cell, a small room ...

. He develops and analyses mathematical and computational models for the dynamics of infectious diseases. For example, he developed population-dynamic models of viral infections, which allowed important insights into pathogenesis and treatment of

HIV infection Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual ma ...

. More recent work deals with the development and spread of

antibiotic resistance Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) occurs when microbes evolve mechanisms that protect them from the effects of antimicrobials. All classes of microbes can evolve resistance. Fungi evolve antifungal resistance. Viruses evolve antiviral resistanc ...

. Group alumni include

Tanja Stadler Tanja Stadler is a mathematician and professor of computational evolution at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH Zurich). She’s the current president of the Swiss Scientific Advisory Panel COVID-19 and Vize-Chair of the Department of ...

, Martin Ackermann, and

Marcel Salathé Marcel Salathé (born 1975 in Basel) is a Swiss digital epidemiologist and currently an associate professor at EPFL. He is the PI of the Lab of Digital Epidemiology, and co-director of the EPFL AI Center. In the first year of the COVID-19 pande ...

. Sebastian Bonhoeffer is an elected member of the

European Molecular Biology Organization The European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) is a professional, non-profit organization of more than 1,800 life scientists. Its goal is to promote research in life science and enable international exchange between scientists. It co-funds cour ...

and international honorary member of the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, ...

. Sebastian Bonhoeffer is married to musician Hanna Weinmeister and they have two children.

References

External links

Sebastian Bonhoeffer
on the website of the Collegium Helveticum

on the website of ETH Zürich

Interview with Sebastian Bonhoeffer in ETH News.

Interview with Sebastian Bonhoeffer in ETH Globe. {{DEFAULTSORT:Bonhoeffer, Sebastian Academic staff of ETH Zurich Members of the European Molecular Biology Organization American Academy of Arts and Sciences 1965 births Living people German biologists Scientists from Tübingen