Julia Vorholt

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Julia Anne Vorholt-Zambelli (born September 15, 1969 in Düren ) is a German biologist and professor of microbiology at the ETH Zurich .

Life

Vorholt completed her pre-diploma studies at the University of Bonn from 1989–1991 and her diploma studies at the Philipps University of Marburg from 1991–1994 . From 1994–1997 she did her doctorate under Rudolf Thauer the Younger at the Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology on Formylmethanofuran dehydrogenases from methanogenic archaea: The role of iron-sulfur-clusters, molybdenum and tungsten and of selenium . From 1998 she was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Washington . From 1999 to 2001 she was group leader at the Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology; In 2002 she completed her habilitation in microbiology at the Philipps University of Marburg. From 2001 she was group leader at the CNRS Laboratoire des Interactions Plantes Microorganismes in Toulouse , in 2006 she became an associate professor at the ETH Zurich. In 2012 Julia Vorholt was elected a member of the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina , and in 2019 she was elected to the European Molecular Biology Organization .

Vorholt is married and has two children.

job

In 2010, American researchers at the NASA Astrobiology Institute led by Felisa Wolfe-Simon isolated bacteria in Mono Lake , which is rich in arsenic and salty , and which, according to the first assumption, use arsenic to synthesize biomolecules (e.g. DNA , RNA ) instead of phosphorus could. This was seen as a starting point for possible knowledge about life forms on other planets and their formation. With the help of high-resolution mass spectrometry , however, Vorholt's group and other scientists were able to show that molecules containing arsenic can be detected in the bacteria; however, these arise spontaneously and there is no active formation of these molecules. In addition, the research group showed that the bacteria do not metabolize arsenic, but rather have a normal phosphate metabolism. The bacteria only grow if the nutrient medium contains a certain amount of phosphorus. This amount was contained in the nutrient medium of the Astrobiology Institute as an impurity. The results were published in Science .

Awards

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e Member entry by Julia Vorholt (with picture and curriculum vitae) at the German Academy of Natural Scientists Leopoldina , accessed on November 17, 2018.
  2. ↑ Alla Katsnelson: Arsenic-eating microbe may redefine chemistry of life. In: Nature News. December 2, 2010, accessed November 17, 2018 .
  3. ^ Daniel Cressey: 'Arsenic-life' bacterium prefers phosphorus after all. In: Nature News. October 3, 2012, accessed November 17, 2018 .
  4. ↑ Stephanie Kusma: Phosphorus is irreplaceable. In: NZZ . October 7, 2012, accessed November 17, 2018 .
personal data
SURNAME Fetched, Julia
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Vorholt-Zambelli, Julia Anne
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German biologist
DATE OF BIRTH 15th September 1969
PLACE OF BIRTH Düren