Lars Angenent Awarded the Leibniz Prize

Max Planck Fellow Lars Angenent has been awarded the Leibniz Prize for his outstanding work in the field of environmental biotechnology, which has made key contributions to microbial electrochemistry.

Angenent is one of the founders of this area of research worldwide and co-founder of the International Society for Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology, which was established in 2011 and which he also chaired as president. His work is highly topical in light of climate change and the related need for a sustainable food, chemical and energy economy.

For example, Angenent uses a combination of microbial fermentation processes with electrochemistry and synthetic biology to convert organic waste and industrial gases into valuable organic products. Through two start-up companies, Angenent has also successfully translated its academic achievements into application.

Largus Angenent studied environmental science at Wageningen University, the Netherlands, and received his PhD in environmental engineering from Iowa State University, USA, in 1998. After postdoctoral stays in Illinois and Colorado, he was appointed assistant professor at Washington University in St. Louis in 2002. In 2008, Angenent moved to Cornell University, first as an Associate Professor, and from 2015 as Professor of Biological and Environmental Engineering. In 2017, the University of Tübingen brought him to Germany as a Humboldt Professor; since 2019, he has been a Fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Biology in Tübingen.