Martin Sievers

Martin Sievers is the head of the Molecular Biology section of the Zurich University of Applied Sciences and director of the Culture Collection of Switzerland.

He is a co-founder of the CCOS and the president of the board.

He studied biology at the Leibniz University of Hannover, focusing on microbiology and biochemistry. Martin Sievers received his PhD from the Christian-Albrechts-University of Kiel. In 1990 he joined the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zurich, where he described Acetobacter europaeus, isolated from industrial vinegar fermentations, and Acetobacter intermedius, isolated from kombucha tea, as two new species.

In 1997 he moved to the Zurich University of Applied Sciences as a lecturer at the Institute of Biotechnology and was appointed Professor in 2002. He teaches Bachelors and Masters students in the fields of microbiology and molecular biology. Martin Sievers has also been involved in many research projects funded by the Innovation Promotion Agency CTI in Bern, Switzerland. Projects carried out with industrial partners include work on the identification of wine lactic acid bacteria, expression of membrane proteins, and diagnostics and therapy for Lyme disease.