John Baines

John Baines is a Professor of Evolutionary Genomics at Kiel University (Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel) since April 2009, with a split appointment between the Faculty of Medicine at the University Medical Center Schleswig-Holstein and the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology in Plön. His research group bridges medical and evolutionary biology by investigating the genetic basis of mammalian-microbiota interactions and chronic inflammatory diseases.

Education:

• Bachelor's in Biochemistry, University of Maryland, College Park (1994–1998)
• Master's in Biology, University of Rochester, NY (1998–2000)
• Ph.D. in Biology, University of Munich (2000–2004)

His research spans evolutionary genomics, focusing on disease gene evolution, population genetics, and bacterial metagenomics to understand host-microbiome interactions in chronic inflammation. The group operates labs at both Kiel University Medical Center and the Max Planck Institute.

Scientific Awards:

• Postdoctoral Fellowship from the German Research Foundation (DFG)

Baines leads an independent research group at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology and collaborates with the Cluster of Excellence "Inflammation at Interfaces." His work emphasizes interdisciplinary links between evolutionary biology and medical research.