Gert Wörheide

Prof. Dr. Gert Wörheide is a leading academic in the Faculty of Geosciences at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, where he holds the Chair of Palaeontology & Geobiology and serves as Director of the Bavarian State Collections of Palaeontology and Geology and Palaeontological & Geological Museum Munich. He has held leadership roles including Dean and Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Geosciences and Speaker of the GeoBio-Center LMU.

• Ph.D. in Geosciences (summa cum laude, Georg-August-University Göttingen, 1998)
• Diplom (MSc equivalent) in Geology/Palaeontology (Freie Universität Berlin, 1994)

His research focuses on molecular phylogeny, systematics, and biomineralization of marine invertebrates, particularly sponges. Key themes include integrating molecular data with fossil records, resolving deep phylogenetic relationships in Porifera, and exploring the genomic basis of calcareous skeleton formation.

Recent publications highlight his work on glass sponge biodiversity (2023), sponge DNA barcoding, and placozoan species genomics (2018). Grants include DFG-funded projects like 'Filling the gap: Sponge morphology in the phylogenomic era' (2018-2021) and coordination of the EU Horizon 2020 ITN IGNITE (2018-2021).

• 1998 Inge und Werner Grüter-Preis für Wissenschaftspublizistik
• 1998 Book Prize, Fakultät für Geowissenschaften, Göttingen
• Elected Ordinary Member, Academia Europea (2019)

He leads the Molecular Geo- & Palaeobiology Lab, which investigates marine organism evolution using molecular tools. Collaborations span institutions in Germany, Australia, and the U.S., with projects funded by DFG, EU Marie Curie Actions, NSF, and Australian Research Council.