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Kristen Panfilio, Ph.D.

Professor of Molecular Genetics

Department of Molecular Genetics (190g)
Institute for Biology
University of Hohenheim
Garbenstr. 30
70599 Stuttgart
Germany [directions]
Phone: +49 (0)711 459 22206

E-mail: kristen.panfilio [at] alum.swarthmore.edu

Guest Scientist

Institute for Zoology: Developmental Biology
University of Cologne
Cologne Biocenter
Zülpicher Str. 47b
50674 Cologne
Germany [directions]
Phone: +49 (0)221 470 3130

Honorary Professorial Fellow

School of Life Sciences
University of Warwick
Gibbet Hill Campus
Coventry CV4 7AL
UK [directions]
Phone: +44 (0)24 765 73527

Brief CV

Positions and Qualifications

From September 2022:
Professor of Molecular Genetics, University of Hohenheim, Germany

From August 2022:
Honorary Professorial Fellow, University of Warwick, UK

2021-22: Reader (Associate Professor) (Warwick, UK)

2019-21: Associate Professor (Warwick, UK)

2017-19: Assistant Professor (Warwick, UK)

From January 2012: Research Group Leader (Emmy Noether Program, 2012-2020 / Guest Scientist, 2020- ) (Cologne, Germany)

2008-11: Postdoctoral Researcher, Laboratory of Professor Siegfried Roth (Cologne, Germany)

2007: Visiting Researcher, Laboratory of Professor Sumihare Noji (Tokushima, Japan)

2007: Postdoctoral Researcher, Laboratory of Professor Michael Akam (Cambridge, UK)

2002-06: Ph.D., University of Cambridge, Department of Zoology, Laboratory of Professor Michael Akam (UK)

2001-02: M.Phil., University of Cambridge, Department of Zoology, Laboratory of Professor Michael Akam (UK)

1997-2001: B.A., Swarthmore College, Biology Department,
Advisor: Professor Scott Gilbert (USA)

Research funding and collaborative projects

- German Research Foundation (DFG) priority program research grant, 2026-2029,
"Genetic and genomic structural evolution underlying feeding ecology transitions in the Hemiptera",
in collaboration with Ingo Ebersberger, as a tandem project within the second phase of the research consortium GEvol ("Genomic basis of evolutionary innovations" in insects and arthopods, SPP 2349)

- Human Frontier Science Program (HFSP) program research grant, 2025-2028,
"Mechanical and morphological evolution of the insect heart",
in collaboration with Timothy Saunders (Warwick, UK), Andrés Sarrazín (Valparaíso, Chile), and Jennifer Young (NUS, Singapore)

- Imaging Platform equipment grant package (lead PI and professorial recruitment award), 2025-2028,
"3D and Fast: an integrated imaging system for development, health, and eco-interaction dynamics", comprised of:
- Light sheet fluorescence microscope and data analysis IT system

- Spinning disc confocal microscope with laser ablation

financed by the DFG's Major Research Instrumentation Program and Baden-Württemberg State Ministry of Science, Research and Arts' Structure and Innovation Fund for Research (SI-BW)

- BBSRC responsive mode project grant, 2021-2024,
"Functional significance and remodeling challenges of polyploidy across the lifetime of epithelial tissues"

- Brazilian Ministry of Education (CAPES) International Visiting Professorship award, 2018-2019,
to Gustavo Lazzaro Rezende for sabbatical research collaboration in the Panfilio Lab (co-investigator/ host), "Regulation of serosal cuticle gene expression in the beetle Tribolium castaneum: identification of transcriptional effectors of Tc-Zen1"

- Wellcome-Warwick Quantitative Biomedicine Programme (QBP) Seed Grant, 2018-2019,
"Defining stochasticity and tolerance in morphogenetically active tissues"

- Wellcome Trust Multi-User Equipment Grant, 2017-2022,
(participating investigator; Project lead: Andrew McAinsh), "Probing intra-cellular dynamics with lattice light sheet microscopy"

- Boehringer Ingelheim Foundation Exploration Grant, 2016-2018,
"The role of polyploidy in epithelial tissue development"

- (DFG) Collaborative Research Center 680 "The Molecular Basis of Evolutionary Innovations", 2014-2017,
Project A12: "The changing roles of Hox3 genes in insects"

- i5K initiative Pilot Project for insect and arthropod genome sequencing, 2012-2019,
Species coordinator for the milkweed bug (Oncopeltus fasciatus)

.
Outputs include the Oncopeltus draft genome

and the major i5K comparative study

.

- (DFG) Emmy Noether Program grant, 2012-2017,
"Comparative cellular and molecular approaches to epithelial morphogenesis in insects"

- (DFG) "iBeetle" Research Unit (FOR 1234), 2011-2016
"Functional genomics of insect development and metamorphosis" as a genome-wide RNAi screening in the beetle Tribolium castaneum (Associated PI)

Selected previous research awards

- Alexander von Humboldt Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship, Germany (2008-2010)

- Company of Biologists Development Travelling Fellowships, UK (2004 and 2007)

- Howard Hughes Medical Institute Predoctoral Fellowship, USA (2002-2007)

- Winston Churchill Foundation Scholarship, USA (2001-2002)

- Cambridge Overseas Trust Honorary Scholar, UK (2001-2002)

- National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship, USA (awarded 2001)

External profile and research descriptions

- ORCID (Open Researcher and Contributor ID) profile

- ResearchGate profile

Page last updated 14 December 2025, K. Panfilio