Prof. em. Dr. Adrian Leuchtmann

Adrian Leuchtmann has been Titular professor at the Institute of Integrative Biology since September 2005, where he was leader of the Evolutionary Mycology group. In 2021 became retired.

Adrian Leuchtmann was born on April 27, 1956 and is citizen of Weiach (Kt. ZH). He studied biology at ETH Zurich, writing his doctoral thesis on the systematics of grass-inhabiting ascomycetes (completed 1985). From 1987 to 1989 he was a postdoctoral fellow at Indiana University (Bloomington, USA), where he did research on the ecology of endophytic fungi. Afterwards he returned to ETH and habilitated in 1997 in the area ecology and evolutionary biology of fungi. As a lecturer he had several Lehraufträge covering subject areas in botany and mycology.

His research concentrated on evolutionary aspects of fungus/host systems, particularly endophytic fungi of grasses. Thereby he was interested in the ecological basis of the fungal symbiosis, and the mechanisms of reproduction, host adaption and speciation of the endophytes.