Martin B Plenio is Director of the Institute of Theoretical Physics at Ulm University and Managing Director of the newly established Center of Quantum BioSciences. He received his Diploma (1992) and PhD (1994) at Göttingen University. Following his Fedor-Lynen Fellow in the group of Prof. Sir Peter Knight at Imperial College London he received his first faculty appointment at Imperial College in 1998 and eventually rose to Full Professor there in 2003. In 2009 he took up an Alexander von Humboldt Professorship to move to Ulm University. His work covers a broad range of topics, including quantum information science, quantum effects in biological systems, quantum optics, and quantum technologies for quantum simulation and quantum sensing. Recent recognitions of his work include an ERC Synergy grant, several international research prizes, the award of Research Building & Center for Quantum-BioSciences and his listing as a Highly Cited Researcher. He is co-founder of NVision Imaging Technologies whose technology builds on his research.

More information can be found in his CV

Fedor Jelezko is a director of the Institute of Quantum Optics, director of Center for Quantum Biosciences, fellow of the Center for Integrated Quantum Science and Technology (IQST) at Ulm University and full member of Heidelberg Academy of Sciences. He studied in Minsk (Belarus) and received his Ph.D. in 1998. After finishing the habilitation in 2010 at Stuttgart University he was appointed as a chair professor of experimental physics in Ulm in 2011. For his scientific achievements in the field of solid state quantum physics, he has received several honors, among the Walter Schottky Prize of the German Physical Society and Zeiss Research Award. His research interests are at the intersection of fundamental quantum physics and application of quantum technologies for information processing, communication, sensing, and imaging.

More information can be found in his CV

Tanja Weil studied chemistry (1993–1998) at the TU Braunschweig (Germany) and the University of Bordeaux I (France) and completed her PhD at the MPI for Polymer Research under the supervision of K. Müllen. In 2003 she received the Otto Hahn Medal of the Max Planck Society. From 2002 to 2008 she managed different leading positions at Merz Pharmaceuticals GmbH (Frankfurt) from Section Head Medicinal Chemistry to Director of Chemical Research and Development. In 2008 she accepted an Associate Professor position at the National University of Singapore. Tanja Weil joined Ulm University as Director of the Institute of Organic Chemistry III / Macromolecular Chemistry in 2010. In 2012, she was awarded the ERC Synergy Grant together with Fedor Jelezko and Martin Plenio. Since 2017, she is one of the Directors at the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research in Mainz as well as an Honorary Professor at Ulm University. Her current scientific interests include the synthesis of quantum materials, customized and adaptive macromolecules for precision sensing and therapy as well as polymeric catalysts and hybrid membranes that outperform existing materials.

More information can be found in her CV

Alexander JC Kuehne is director of OCIII - Institute of Organic and Macromolecular Chemistry at Ulm University. He received his PhD (2008) from the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow UK. After postdoctoral fellowships at the University of Cologne in the Group of Klaus Meerholz and Harvard University in Dave Weitz Lab, he joined DWI – Leibniz Institute for Interactive Materials in 2011. In 2018 he moved to Ulm University. His work covers (i) photonic systems for the amplification of light, (ii) material for biomedical imaging and (iii) carbon fibers for energy storage applications.

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Jan Münch is Director of the Institute of Molecular Virology at Ulm University Medical Clinic. He studied Biology and received his PhD in 2002 at the Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg. Subsequently, he performed a post-doc (2002-2004) in the research group of Prof. Frank Kirchhoff at the Institute of Virology in Ulm, with a main focus on the function of the accessory Nef protein of primate lentiviruses. In 2004 he was appointed as W1 professor at the same institute and in 2010 he was awarded a full professorship in the newly funded Institute of Molecular Virology at Ulm University. In 2017 he became Director of the same institute. His main research interests are the discovery of natural human factors that play a role in viral pathogenesis and transmission and in their optimization for novel therapeutic approaches, and to develop novel strategies to fight viral infections. He received several research awards and is Deputy speaker of the Core Facility Functional Peptidomics.

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Frank Kirchhoff is Director of the Institute of Molecular Virology at Ulm University Medical Clinic. He studied Biology and received his PhD in 1991 at the University of Göttingen. Subsequently, he performed a post-doc (1991-1994) in the research group of Prof. Ronald C. Desrosiers at the Harvard Medical School (Southborough, USA), with a main focus on live-attenuated AIDS vaccines and the function of the accessory Nef protein of primate lentiviruses. In 1994 he established his own research group at the Institute of Virology, University of Erlangen-Nürnberg under the Directorship of Prof. Dr. Bernhard Fleckenstein. In 2001 he was awarded a full professorship in Virology at the University of Ulm and became director of the newly funded Institute of Molecular Virology in Ulm in 2009. His main research interests are how viruses manipulate the immune system, cross species barriers and cause disease. Furthermore, he is interested in the discovery of natural human factors that play a role in viral pathogenesis and transmission and in their optimization for novel therapeutic approaches. He received several research awards including the Leibniz prize of the DFG and is spokesperson of CRC 1279.

More information can be found in his CV