Jethro Hemmann

Dr. Jethro Hemmann is a Junior Research Group Leader at the Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology - Hans Knöll Institute (Leibniz-HKI) in Jena, Germany, where he heads the 'Metabolomics-guided Natural Product Discovery' research group since 2025. Previously, he held postdoctoral positions at Leibniz-HKI (2021-2024) and ETH Zurich (2020-2021), following the completion of his PhD at ETH Zurich under Prof. Julia Vorholt.

Dr. Hemmann's educational background includes:

• BSc and MSc in Interdisciplinary Sciences (major Biology and Chemistry) from ETH Zurich (2010-2015)
• PhD in Microbiology from ETH Zurich (2016-2020)
• Apprenticeship as IT systems engineer in Switzerland (2004-2008)

His research focuses on the intersection of metabolomics, natural product discovery, and microbial biochemistry. Dr. Hemmann specializes in studying biosynthetic gene clusters, one-carbon metabolism in bacteria, lanthanide biology in methylotrophs, and the biochemistry of specialized metabolites. His work combines advanced metabolomics techniques with microbiology and biochemistry to discover novel natural products with potential pharmaceutical applications, particularly from moss and their associated microbiomes. Recent news from Leibniz-HKI highlights his work on 'using metabolomics to search for new natural products in moss' and discovering 'hidden treasures in the moss'.

Dr. Hemmann has received several notable recognitions including a Postdoc.Mobility fellowship from the Swiss National Science Foundation (2021-2023) and membership in the Association for General and Applied Microbiology (VAAM) since 2023.

As a Junior Research Group Leader, Dr. Hemmann oversees an active research program with funding supporting metabolomics-guided natural product discovery. His laboratory provides training opportunities for students interested in the chemical biology of natural products, metabolomics, and microbial biochemistry. The lab's recent work has focused on discovering hidden treasures in moss microbiomes and advancing biosynthetic gene cluster curation through international collaboration.

Dr. Hemmann maintains active collaborations within the international natural products research community, as evidenced by his participation in the MIBiG consortium and publications in high-impact journals including Journal of Biological Chemistry, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, and Nucleic Acids Research.