Martin Pilhofer
Personal Information
* 5. April 1980, Amberg, Germany
Scientific Interests
Microbial cell-cell interactions | microbial cytoskeletal elements | evolution | cryo-electron tomography
Positions
since 04/2024
Full Professor at ETH Zürich
Department of Biology, Institute of Molecular Biology & Biophysics
06/2019-03/2024
Associate Professor at ETH Zürich
Department of Biology, Institute of Molecular Biology & Biophysics
02/2014-05/2019
Assistant Professor at ETH Zürich
Department of Biology, Institute of Molecular Biology & Biophysics
Education and Training
11/2008–12/2013
Postdoc with Grant J. Jensen
Caltech and HHMI, Pasadena, CA, USA
11/2004–07/2008
PhD (“summa cum laude”) with Karl-Heinz Schleifer
Institute of Microbiology, Technical University Munich, Germany
11/1999–09/2004
Diploma (“with distinction”) in Biology
University of Bayreuth and Technical University Munich, Germany
Awards
2021 | ERC Consolidator Grant | European Research Council
2018 | EMBO Young Investigator | 2019-2022
2016 | ERC Starting Grant | European Research Council
2011 | Best Contribution Award | 4th Congress of European Microbiologists (FEMS) | Geneva, Switzerland
2009 | PhD thesis award | German Society for General and Applied Microbiology (VAAM)
Institutional Responsibilities at ETH Zürich
since 10/2022 | Vice-Chair | Institute of Molecular Biology & Biophysics
10/2019-09/2022 | Chair | Institute of Molecular Biology & Biophysics
since 11/2019 | Chair | Steering Board | CryoEM Knowledge Hub
since 05/2019 | Vice-chair | Steering Board | ScopeM platform
since 07/2018 | Member | Strategy Committee | D-BIOL
Commissions of Trust
2024 | Faculty Reviewer | University of Melbourne
2024 | Faculty Reviewer | Institute Pasteur
2024 | Faculty Reviewer | Okinawa Institute of Technology
2024 | Member | Tenure Committee | University of Basel
since 2023 | Head | Section Molecular Microbiology | Swiss Society for Microbiology
2022 | Member | Group Leader Recruitment Committee | EMBL Heidelberg
2022 | Faculty Reviewer | Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
2022 | Member | Review Panel | Structural & Computational Biology Unit | EMBL
2020 | Member | Faculty Recruitment Committee | University of Basel
2020 | Member | Group Leader Recruitment Committee | EMBL Heidelberg
2020 | Member | Group Leader Recruitment Committee | EMBL Heidelberg
2020 | Member | Assistant Professor Recruitment | D-BIOL | ETH Zürich
since 2019 | Member | Advisory Board | Review Commons
Funding (as main applicant)
10/2024 | Project grant | Swiss National Science Foundation
03/2024 | EU/SERI Doctoral Network (as co-applicant)
11/2022 | Scientific equipment program | ETH Zürich
11/2022 | Research equipment grant (R'Equip) | Swiss National Science Foundation
10/2022 | Project grant | Swiss National Science Foundation
01/2022 | Consolidator grant | European Research Council
08/2021 | iDOC grant (co-applicant) | Personalized Health and Related Technologies
04/2018 | Project grant | Swiss National Science Foundation
01/2018 | Project grant | ETH Research Commission
01/2017 | Starting grant | European Research Council
01/2017 | Project grant | Gebert Rüf Foundation
11/2015 | Research equipment grant (R'Equip) | Swiss National Science Foundation
11/2015 | Scientific equipment program | ETH Zürich
09/2015 | Project grant | Helmut Horten Foundation
08/2015 | Project grant | ETH Research Commission
04/2014 | Project grant | Swiss National Science Foundation
Invited Scientific Talks
2025
EMBO/FEBS Advanced Course | The New Microbiology | Spetses
Latsis Symposium | Shaping microbial life an a changing environment | Lausanne
University of Bayreuth | Bayreuth
Dynamo Workshop | Tsinghua University | Beijing | Keynote Speaker
Centre International de Recherche en Infectiologie | Lyon
2024
Westlake cryo-ET International Symposium | Westlake University | Hangzhou
GRC Bacterial Cell Surfaces | Portland
GRS Bacterial Cell Surfaces | Portland | Keynote Speaker
University of Porto | i3S | Porto
CCP-EM Symposium | Nottingham
University of Freiburg | Faculty for Biology | Freiburg
Spemann Graduate School of Biology and Medicine | Freiburg
Institute for Molecular Infection Biology | Würzburg
2023
Bacterial Protein Toxins (ETOX 2023) | Perthshire
Correlative Microscopy Summer School | EPFL | Lausanne
The Rosalind Franklin Institute | Oxfordshire
NECEN Minisymposium | Leiden | Keynote speaker
ITQB | New University of Lisbon | Lisbon
Hebrew University | Jerusalem
2022
Bacterial Protein Export 2022 | Leuven | canceled
Tomography Congress | Egmond aan Zee
Latsis Symposium "Origin of life" Panel Discussion | Zürich
Dubochet Center for Imaging | Inaugural Symposium | Lausanne/Geneva
Centre for Structural Systems Biology | Hamburg
Marthe-Vogt-Seminars | Leibniz-Institut für Molekulare Pharmakologie | Berlin
2021
Modern Concepts in Structural Biology | Vienna Biocenter
Microscopy & Microanalysis 2021 | virtual
EMBO Symposium | New Approaches and Concepts in Microbiology | virtual
EMBO Workshop | Unlocking the Gut Microbial Functional Diversity | virtual
Israel Crystallographic Association | virtual | Keynote speaker
iNEXT-Discovery | Workshop | virtual
Keystone Symposium | Frontiers in Cryo-Electron Microscopy | virtual
2020
EMBO Workshop | In Situ Structural Biology | virtual
Annual Autosomal Dominant Tubulointestinal Kidney Disease Summit | virtual | Keynote speaker
2019
Max von Pettenkofer Institute | Munich
Rhine-Knee Regiomeeting on Structural Biology | Lac Leman
Swiss Society for Microbiology | Annual Meeting | Zürich | Plenary speaker
European Workshop on Bacterial Protein Toxins | Davos
MPI for Developmental Biology | PhD retreat | Untermarchtal
Montana State University | Bozeman, MT
Keystone Symposium| Imaging Across Scales | Snowbird, UT
MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology | Structural Studies/Cell Biology | Cambridge
DFG SFB 766 International Meeting | Tübingen
2018
ASCB/EMBO Meeting 2018 | San Diego
VAAM Bacterial Cell Biology | Ebsdorfergrund | Keynote speaker
Structural Dynamics in Cellular Communication | Brussels
Electron Tomography Meeting 2018 | Les Diablerets
Cyano2018 Meeting | Freiburg | Keynote speaker
SGINF Annual Meeting | Interlaken
ASM Microbe | Atlanta, GA
UT Southwestern | Department of Biophysics | Dallas, TX
IBL Symposium | Leiden University | Leiden | Keynote speaker
IGBMC | Strasbourg
Hong Kong University of Science and Technology | Hong Kong
2017
University of Regensburg | Regensburg
Marburg Spotlight Meeting on Microbiology | Marburg
University of Freiburg | Freiburg
University of Geneva | Geneva
International Caesar Conference on Molecular Electron Microscopy | Bonn
Biochemistry Center | University of Heidelberg | Heidelberg
Congress of European Microbiologists (FEMS) | Valencia
Gordon Conference - 3D Electron Microscopy | Les Diablerets
Technical University Munich | Munich
Canadian Microscopy Symposium | Montreal
Gene Center Munich | Munich
University of Tübingen | Tübingen
2016
University of Zürich | Institute of Medical Microbiology | Zürich
Symbiosus Symposium | University of Pisa | Pisa
Swiss Society for Optics and Microscopy | Annual Meeting | Les Diablerets
CNRS | Marseille
Life Sciences Zürich Graduate School | Zürich
EPFL | Lausanne
Institut Pasteur | Paris
2015
University of Zürich | Institute of Plant Biology | Zürich
Congress of European Microbiologists (FEMS) | Maastricht
University of Basel | Structural Biology and Biophysics Seminar | Basel
Imperial College, Department of Life Sciences | London
De Bary Lecture | University of Vienna | Vienna
2014
International Electron Tomography Conference | Cancun
University of Bern, Institute of Cell Biology | Bern
Paul Scherrer Institute | Villigen
Life Sciences Zürich Graduate School, BSM program | Ligerz
Swiss Society of Microbiology (SSM/SGM), Annual Meeting | Fribourg
ETH Zürich, Department of Biology, Annual Retreat | Davos
Louis-Jeantet Foundation, Infection and Immunity Forum | Geneva
Institut Curie | Orsay
2013
University of Minnesota, GC&D | Minneapolis, MN
Southern California Society for Microscopy and Microanalysis | LA, CA
EMBO Workshop: The PVC Superphylum | Heidelberg | Keynote speaker
2012
Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry | Martinsried
MicroMornings Seminar Series, Caltech | Pasadena, CA
Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology | Marburg
2011
University of Vienna, Department of Microbial Ecology | Vienna
LMU München, Lehrstuhl für Mikrobiologie | Munich
2009
Gordon Conference - 3D Electron Microscopy | New London, NH
American Society for Microbiology, 109th Meeting | Philadelphia, PA
PhD award presentation, VAAM, Annual Meeting | Bochum
Organization of Conferences
2022 | Program Committee Member | Swiss Society for Microbiology Annual Meeting | Lausanne
2021 | Program Committee Member | Swiss Society for Microbiology Annual Meeting | Geneva
2018 | Workshop Organizer | American Society for Cell Biology/EMBO Meeting | San Diego
2017 | Session Chair | Congress of European Microbiologists (FEMS) | Valencia
2014 | Session Chair | International Electron Tomography Conference | Cancun
Mentoring
Project Leader
Gregor Weiss (since 2020)
Postdocs
Lee Rettberg (since 2020) | Florian Wollweber (since 2020) | Vasil Gaisin (since 2020) | Jingwei Xu (since 2018) | Bastien Casu (since 2018) | Kasia Radomska (2017-2020) | Piotr Szwedziak (2015-2019)
PhD students
Jessie Malit (since 2022) | Marlen Petersen (since 2022) | Karolina Roganowicz (since 2021) | Nikolai Petrisoan (since 2020) | Piotr Tokarz (since 2020) | Miki Feldmüller (since 2019) | Corina Hadjicharalambous (since 2019) | Yun-Wei Lien (since 2019) | Tobias Zachs (since 2018) | Charles Ericson (since 2018) | Jannik Hugener (since 2018) | Fabian Eisenstein (2016-2020) | Gregor Weiss (2015-2020) | Désirée Böck (2014-2019) | Romain Kooger (2014-2019) | João Medeiros (2014-2019)
Master theses
Jiawen Tian (2021) | Lazar Ivanovic (2020) | Miki Feldmüller (2019) | Milena Gerber (2018) | Hannah Minas (2017) | Alex Tsui (2016/2017) | Gregor Weiss (2014) | Christina Eckl (2007) | Kristina Rappl (2006)
Semester projects
Agnes Eck (2022) | Davide Amendola (2022) | Solène Ecomard (2022) | Jonas Kurmann (2022) | Martina Bonassera (2022) | Peter Haas (2022) | Jiangning Li (2022) | Alexandra Schürch (2022) | Lisa Vadakumchery (2021) | Timo Stühlinger (2021) | Juan Carlos Mellado Tenorio (2021) | Simon Hauser (2021) | Jiawen Tian (2020) | Sonja Rutz (2017) | Francesco Bosia (2016) | Hannah Minas (2016) | Alex Tsui (2016) | Lida Vadakumchery (2016) | Jacqueline Mock (2016) | Nino Wili (2015) | Sophie Zahalka (2015)
Summer students
Royce Felten (2022, high-school student) | Simon Lichtinger (2018, Amgen) | Gautier Courbon (2018) | Tobias Zachs (2017) | Josephine Pepper (2017, Amgen) | Alexandra Eklund (2014, BUSS) | Gregor Weiss (2012, SURF; 2013) | Pierre Jean (2011, SURF; 2012)
Teaching
from fall 2023 | Co-Lecturer | Mikrobiologie
since 2023 | Co-Lecturer | Pathobiochemie
since 2021 | Co-Lecturer | Bioanalytics
2021 | Co-Lecturer | Biozentrum Basel | Molecular Structure, Function, and Dynamics of Membranes and Membrane Proteins
since 2017 | Co-Lecturer | Molecular and Structural Biology 4
since 2017 | Co-Lecturer | Molecular and Structural Biology 2
2016 | Co-Organizer | Winterschool | Advanced 3D Microscopy
since 2015 | Co-Lecturer | Microbiology 1
2015/2016 | Co-Lecturer | BSM 2: Cellular Molecular Machines
since 2014 | Organizer | Block Course | Imaging bacteria by cryo-electron tomography
2014/2015 | Co-Organizer | Summerschool | Biomedical imaging
2014-2017 | Organizer | Intergroup Seminar | Electron cryomicroscopy
2004 | Teaching Assistant | Undergraduate practical course | Microbiology
Reviewing Activities for Journals
Archaea | BMC Microbiology | Cell | Cell Host & Microbe | Cell Reports | Current Opinion in Microbiology | Elife | Encyclopedia of Cell Biology | Environmental Microbiology | FEBS Journal | Frontiers in Microbiology | ISME Journal | Journal of Bacteriology | Journal of Cell Science | Journal of Structural Biology | Micron | Molecular Biology of the Cell | Molecular Microbiology | Nature | Nature Communications | Nature Microbiology | PNAS | PLoS Biology | PLoS Genetics | Progress in Biophysics & Molecular Biology | Science | Trends in Microbiology
Reviewing Activities for Funding Agencies and Collaborative Research Centers
Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR) | Boehringer Ingelheim Fonds | Branco Weiss Fellowship | Chan Zuckerberg Initiative | Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) | EMBL Heidelberg | European Research Council Starting/Consolidator/Advanced Grants | iNEXT | La Caixa Banking Foundation | Medical Research Council (MRC) | Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) | UBS Promedica Foundation | Wellcome Trust
Memberships in Scientific Societies
since 2015 | Swiss Society of Microbiology
since 2013 | Southern California Society for Microscopy and Microanalysis
since 2008 | American Society for Microbiology (ASM)
since 2004 | Association for General and Applied Microbiology (VAAM)