Markus Engstler

is a molecular cell biologist with substantial interest in infection biology and (bio)physics. He graduated from Christian Albrecht University of Kiel where he also received a doctorate in biochemistry. Markus spent his postdoctoral time at The Rockefeller University (New York) and the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry (Martinsried). He further developed his quantitative approaches to study cells as a project group leader at the Free University of Berlin and the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich. Following habilitation in Genetics (LMU Munich), he was appointed Professor of Genetics at Darmstadt University of Technology. Since 2009, Markus Engstler is Professor and Chair of the Department of Cell and Developmental Biology at the Julius-Maximilians-University of Würzburg. Among other duties, he continues to act as a member of numerous scientific advisory boards, as well as an editor for several journals. He is member of the board of the Forum Africa Centre (FAZ) and the Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen-Center for Complex Material Systems (RCCM). He has served as dean and vice-dean of faculty, and is founding director of the Center for Computational and Theoretical Biology (CCTB). Markus Engstler is also a founding member of DNTDs, the German Network Against Neglected Tropical Diseases. He is acting president of the German Society for Parasitology (DGP). Since 2021, Markus Engstler is speaker of the DFG priority programme SPP 2332 "Physics of Parasitism". He is currently also Dean of Studies at the Faculty of Biology in Würzburg and was awarded the Memento Research Prize 2022 for Neglected Diseases. In May 2025, Markus was elected president of the German Life Sciences Association (VBIO).

since 2009 Chair and Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology, University of Würzburg

2006 - 2009 Professor of Genetics, Technical 
University, Darmstadt

2004 Habilitation, LMU Munich

2001-2004 Research Project Leader, LMU 
Munich

1998-2001 Senior Staff Scientist, Free University of Berlin

1996-1998 Postdoc, MPI Martinsried

1994-1996 Postdoc, The Rockefeller University, New York

1994-1999 DKFZ postdoctoral fellow

1994 Dr. rer. nat, University of Kiel