Introduction of Prof. Dr. Julia Kurth

We are delighted to welcome Prof. Dr. Julia Kurth as the new Professor of Microbiology at the Institute of Molecular Microbiology and Biotechnology.  Since March 2025, she has enriched the Faculty of Biology with her research on the metabolic physiology of anaerobic microorganisms.

After studying biology and microbiology at the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn, Julia Kurth completed her doctorate at the same university in 2017 on enzymes of bacterial sulfur metabolism under Dr. Christiane Dahl. She then moved to Radboud University in Nijmegen (NL) as a postdoc with Professor Mike Jetten and Professor Cornelia Welte and later to Wageningen University (NL) as a postdoc with Professor Diana Sousa. During her postdoc, she established her research on new metabolic pathways in archaea, microorganisms of the third domain of life that have played an important role in various metabolic cycles on Earth for billions of years.

Since 2022, Julia Kurth has headed the 'Microbial Physiology' group at the Future Center Microcosm Earth at the University of Marburg and accepted an appointment at the University of Münster in autumn 2024. 

Her research focuses on anaerobic bacteria and archaea, i.e. microorganisms that live without oxygen. By combining metabolic physiology, protein biochemistry, molecular biology and environmental microbiology, the aim is to achieve a better understanding of certain microbial metabolic pathways, the proteins involved and the environmental relevance of the corresponding microorganisms. One research focus is the investigation of archaea and metabolic pathways that are involved in the production of the greenhouse gases methane and CO₂. Especially with regard to climate change, it is of great importance to identify and understand the processes and microorganisms involved in the production of greenhouse gases. One of Julia Kurth's main goals is to discover previously hidden substrates used by anaerobic archaea and bacteria that play a previously overlooked role in the global carbon cycle and greenhouse gas production. 

We are delighted that Professor Kurth is supporting the Faculty of Biology with her outstanding scientific work and her many years of international teaching experience.