Holger Sondermann, professor of molecular medicine, was elected into the American Academy of Microbiology earlier this year along with 95 other new fellows. The Academy recognizes scientists for outstanding contributions to microbiology and provides microbiological expertise in the service of science and the public. Fellows of the American Academy of Microbiology are elected annually through a highly selective, peer-review process, based on their records of scientific achievement and original contributions that have advanced microbiology.

There are over 2,400 American Academy of Microbiology fellows representing all subspecialties of the microbial sciences and involved in basic and applied research, teaching, public health, industry, and government service. In addition, Fellows hail from all around the globe. The "Class of 2018" represents fellows from Bangladesh, the Netherlands, Switzerland, China, Israel, Austria, Sweden, Belgium, and the UK.

This academy is an honorific leadership group within the American Society for Microbiology, the largest  and oldest single life science society, composed of more than 50,000 scientists and health professionals, with a mission to promote and advance the microbial sciences.

Sondermann studies molecular mechanisms underlying fundamental cellular processes, including the signal transduction pathways controlling bacterial biofilm formation and mechanisms driving membrane fusion and fission in eukaryotes. He received his undergraduate degree in biology from the University of Cologne and his Ph.D. in biochemistry from the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry.