Karl-Heinz Kogel

Prof. Prof. Dr. Karl-Heinz Kogel studied biology and social sciences at RWTH Aachen University from 1975 to 1981. In 1986, he obtained his doctorate at the same university with a thesis on the molecular analysis of rust infections on wheat. After a postdoctoral period at the Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research in Cologne, he trained as a patent attorney in a law firm. From 1990 to 1996 he was group leader for plant pathology at the RWTH Aachen and in 1996 accepted a professorship for plant protection and plant pathology at the University of Giessen. He was coordinator of several DFG-funded research groups in the field of plant biotechnology and genetic engineering with a focus on cereal crops. From 2006 to 2009, he was Vice President of the University of Giessen, responsible for research and internationalization. Since 2014, he has also been head of the TransMIT Center for Innovative Plant Protection at Gießen.

Kogel's research focuses on biological pest control with a focus on fungal endophytes and their symbioses with cereals, as well as their use in agriculture to combat plant diseases. Kogel also worked in biosafety research on the effects of transgenic plants on the environment (green genetic engineering). Since 2013, Kogel has been researching the role of RNAs such as double-stranded RNA (dsRNA), small non-coding RNA (siRNA, miRNA) and circular (circ)RNA in the development and control of plant diseases.

Since 2010, Kogel is member of the Hungarian Academy of Science; in 2016, he was awarded the research prize of the German Phytomedical Society; in 2019 he was awarded the academic title “Prof. h.c.” from the Amity University, New Delhi.