Born 1959 in Holbaek, Denmark. MSc thesis in molecular biology, Univ. of Odense (1984), MD, Univ. of Odense (1988), visiting scientist, Institut Pasteur, Paris (1990), PhD in molecular biology, Univ. of Odense (1991), postdoc, Univ. of Odense (1991), Assistant Professor, Univ. of Odense (1992- 1995), visiting scientist, Stanford University (1994-1995), Associate Professor, Univ. of Southern Denmark (1996-2001), Professor, Univ. of Southern Denmark (2002-2004), Director and Scientific Member at the Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology (since 2004).