Matthias Meyer

Group leader

Department of Evolutionary Genetics
Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
Deutscher Platz 6
04103 Leipzig

phone: +49 (0) 341 3550 509
e-mail:

Curriculum Vitae

Education

2009 PhD (Doctor rerum naturalium) in Biology
Evolutionary Genetics Department, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany and Leipzig University, Germany
Awarded summa cum laude distinction.

2005 Diploma in Biochemistry
Faculty of Biosciences, Pharmacy and Psychology, Leipzig University, Germany

Current position

2021-present Max Planck Research Group Leader (W2, tenured)
"Advanced DNA sequencing techniques", Evolutionary Genetics Department, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany

Joint Head of the Ancient DNA Core Unit, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany

Previous positions

2012-2021 Max Planck Research Group Leader "Advanced DNA sequencing techniques"
Evolutionary Genetics Department, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany

2009-2012 Postdoctoral Researcher
Evolutionary Genetics Department, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany (PI: Prof. Svante Pääbo)

2009 Visiting Researcher (3 months)
Ion Torrent, Guilford, Connecticut, USA (PI: Dr Jonathan Rothberg)

2005-2009 Doctoral Researcher
Evolutionary Genetics Department, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany (PI: Dr Michael Hofreiter)

2003 Laboratory Technician (4 months)
Southwest Fisheries Science Center, La Jolla, California, USA (PI: Dr Phillip Morin)

Fellowships/awards/grants

2020 – 2021 Experiment! Grant, Volkswagen Foundation ("Traces in the dirt - searching for ancient human DNA in sediments and soils in the open landscape")

2015 DKFZ Grant for sequencing of degraded DNA from FFPE samples in melanoma (with Susanne Horn and Janet Kelso)

2010 AAAS Newcomb Cleveland Prize, awarded to the authors of "A Draft Sequence of the Neandertal Genome" (Green et al. 2010, Science 328:710-722)

2005-2009 Doctoral fellow of the International Max Planck Research School (IMPRS), Leipzig School of Human Origins

Teaching activities

2011-present Yearly lectures for the "International Max Planck Research School, The Leipzig School of Human Origins" (various topics)

2010-2023 Co-organization and supervision of a yearly two-week lab practical course "Molecular Evolution" (formerly "Molecular Ecology") for MSc students, Leipzig University, Germany

2010-2018 Yearly lectures in the series "Molecular Anthropology" for MSc students, Leipzig University (topics: "Ancient DNA" and "Paleogenomics")

Supervision of PhD/master students

Graduate students who completed their PhD in my group:
Jesse Dabney (2014), Isabelle Glocke (2018), Petra Korlevic (2018), Mateja Hajdinjak (2018)*, Viviane Slon (2018)*, Lukas Bokelmann (2021), Elena Zavala (2022)
* Winners of the prestigious Otto Hahn Award (Viviane Slon, 2018) and Otto Hahn Medal (Mateja Hajdinjak, 2019) of the Max Planck Society for outstanding scientific achievements

Master students who completed their MSc thesis in my group:
Charlotte Hopfe (MSc 2015), Elena Beirer (MSc 2016), Laurin Lippik (MSc 2018), Vincent Geyer (2021), Hannes Tausend (2024)

Contributions to edited books

Dabney, J. and Meyer, M.: Extraction of Highly Degraded DNA from Ancient Bones and Teeth. In Beth Shapiro et al. (Eds): Ancient DNA. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 1963. Humana Press, New York, NY. (2019)

Gansauge, M. T. and Meyer, M.: A Method for Single-Stranded Ancient DNA Library Preparation. In Beth Shapiro et al. (Eds): Ancient DNA. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 1963. Humana Press, New York, NY. (2019)

Korlević, P., Meyer, M.: Pretreatment: Removing DNA Contamination from Ancient Bones and Teeth Using Sodium Hypochlorite and Phosphate. In Beth Shapiro et al. (Eds): Ancient DNA. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 1963. Humana Press, New York, NY. (2019)

Dabney, J., Meyer, M. and & Pääbo, S.: Ancient DNA damage. In E. C. Friedberg, S. J. Elledge, A. R. Lehmann, T. Lindahl, & M. Muzi-Falconi (Eds.), DNA Repair, Mutagenesis, and Other Responses to DNA Damage: A subject collection from Cold Spring Harbor Perspectives in Biology (pp. 19-26). New York: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Pr. (2014)

Knapp, M., Stiller, M. and Meyer, M.: Generating barcoded libraries for multiplex high-throughput sequencing. In B. Shapiro, & M. Hofreiter (Eds.), Ancient DNA (pp. 155-170). New York: Humana Pr. (2012)

Departments and Groups