Uwe Sonnewald

Education and training

1980 – 1986	Study of Biology at the University of Cologne with Diploma in Biology Supervisor for Diploma thesis: Prof. Dr. Ruth Ehring
1986 – 1989	PhD work at the Institut für Genbiologische Forschung associated with the Freie Universität Berlin and University of California, San Diego (UCSD, La Jolla) Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Lothar Willmitzer
1993	Habilitation in Biochemistry at the Faculty of Biology of the University Göttingen

Professional positions

1989 – 1992	Group leader of the carbohydrate section at the department of Prof. Dr. L. Willmitzer at the Institut für Genbiologische Forschung, Berlin
1992 – 1998	Group leader Molecular Plant Physiology at the Institute for Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research (IPK) in Gatersleben, Germany
1998 – 2004	Appointed Professor (C4) at the Martin-Luther-Universität Halle/Wittenberg for Molecular Cell Biology of Plant Systems and as head of the Department of Molecular Cell Biology at the IPK
1998	Co-founder of SunGene, a R&D company in the field of plant biotechnology; joint venture with BASF Plant Science
2004 – today	Appointed professor (C4) at the Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg and head of the Division of Biochemistry
2007 – 2011	Head of Biology Department and Vice Dean Faculty of Sciences of the Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg
2013 – 2015	Vice Dean of International Affairs of the Faculty of Sciences of the Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg

Editorial Boards

1999 – 2007	Subject Editor for Biotechnology “Journal of Plant Physiology”
2003 – 2008	Co-Editor “The Plant Cell”
2010 – 2012	Co-Editor-in-Chief “Frontiers of Plant Science”
2017 – today	Senior Editor of “Journal of Integrative Plant Biology”
2017 – 2020	Member of the Editorial Board for Plant Biology “Scientific Reports”
2019 – today	Editor-in-Chief of “Journal of Plant Physiology”

Other notable activities

1996 – today	Member of the Central Commission of Biological Safety (ZKBS)
2000 – 2004	Coordinator of Plant MetaNet, a research network between the IPK-Gatersleben, the IPB-Halle, the MPI of Chemical Ecology, Jena and the MPI for Molecular Plant Physiology, Golm
2000 – 2005	Coordinator of the EU consortium PROFOOD
2000 – 2008	Member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Institute of Chemistry and Dynamics of the Geosphere (ICG), Jülich, Germany
2004 – 2008	Member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Graduate School Experimental Plant Sciences, Netherlands
2004 – 2008	Member of the advisory board of BASF Plant Sciences
2004 – 2008	Member of DFG Senatskommission für Grundsatzfragen der Genforschung
2004 – 2008	Member of the DFG Panel 202 “Pflanzenwissenschaften”
2004 – 2011	Member of the Advisory Board of “Verbund Biowissenschaftlicher und Biomedizinischer Gesellschaften (VBBM, VBIO)”
2004 – 2011	Member of the Advisory Board of the Heidelberg Institute of Plant Sciences
2005 – 2007	Member of the EFSA Self Tasking Working Group “Guidelines for the assessment of genetically modified plant used as production platform for non-food products”
2005 – 2011	Member of the international scientific advisory board of the Laboratorio de Genetica Molecular Vegetal, Barcelona, Spain
2006 – today	Member of the Advisory Board for the Exzellenznetzwerk des Landes Sachsen-Anhalt zum Forschungsschwerpunkt “Biowissenschaften – Struktur und Mechanismen der biologischen Informationsverarbeitung”
2007 – 2015	Member of the Selection Committee of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation
2009 – 2017	Coordinator of the SFB 796, Reprogramming of Host cells by Microbial Effectors
2013 – 2020	Member and chairman of the scientific advisory board of the Leibniz Institute of Vegetable and Ornamental Crops (IGZ)
2014 – today	Coordinator of the Bill & Melinda Gates project, Metabolic engineering of carbon pathways to enhance yield of root and tuber crops (CASS)
2017 – today	Member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the DynaMo Center at the Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences, University Copenhagen, Denmark

Awards and honours

1992	Federation of European Societies of Plant Physiology Award
2011	Germany Land of Ideas, selected Landmark 2011
2017	Innovation Award of the BioRegions Germany
2020	Member of the Deutsche Akademie der Naturforscher Leopoldina

Publications

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