Sven Hammerschmidt (male) is a Full-Professor at the University of Greifswald (Germany) and Chair of the Department of Molecular Genetics and Infection Biology. He received his PhD in Microbiology in 1996 (Hannover, Germany) and habilitated in 2002. His first appointment as Associated Professor was 2007 for Cellular Microbiology at the Max von Pettenkofer-Institute for Hygiene and Medical Microbiology. In 2008 he took over the Chair of the Department Molecular Genetics and Infection Biology and was appointed as Professor for General and Molecular Genetics. In 1998 he was awarded with the Robert-Koch-Award for Post-Docs for Hygiene and Microbiology and in 2007 he received the Becton-Dickinson Research Award for his work on adhesion mechanisms of Streptococcus pneumoniae.

Sven Hammerschmidt is focusing on the analysis of virulence strategies of Gram-positive bacteria with a special emphasis on the strategies evolved by the human specific pathogen Streptococcus pneumoniae. Research projects are focused on the identification and molecular characterization of bacterial fitness and virulence factors of S. pneumoniae as well as their role inducing pathophysiological processes. Sven Hammerschmidt has published over 170 peer-reviewed original articles in international journals, 12 book chapters, and was the editor of one book entitled “Streptococcus pneumoniae: Molecular mechanisms of host-pathogen interactions ”.