Prof. Dr. Julia Vorholt-Zambelli

Julia Vorholt studied biology at the Universities of Bonn and Marburg, Germany. Her doctoral research focused on the biochemistry of methanogenesis under the guidance of Professor R. K. Thauer at the Max-Planck-Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology.

Following her PhD, she completed postdoctoral work in M. E. Lidstrom's laboratory in Seattle, USA, before returning to the MPI Marburg. There, she established a research group dedicated to the biochemistry of methylotrophic bacteria. From 2001 to 2006, Julia Vorholt led an independent Max-Planck research group at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) in Toulouse, France, where she initiated work on plant microbiomes.

In 2006, she was appointed Associate Professor at ETH Zurich and was promoted to Full Professor in 2012. She served as Director of Studies for the Department of Biology at ETH Zurich from 2020 to 2022. Since 2020, she has been Co-Director of the Swiss National Center of Competence in Research (NCCR) Microbiomes. 

Julia Vorholt is an elected member of the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO), the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, and an international member of the US National Academy of Sciences. Her contributions to science have also been recognized with the Otto-Hahn medal from the Max Planck Society, the Feodor-Lynen medal from the German Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (GBM), and two European Research Council (ERC) Advanced Grants in 2015 and 2020. Most recently, she was honored with the 2025 Novonesis Biotechnology Prize by the Novo Nordisk Foundation.

Complete CV