Dirk Haller PhD

Dirk After graduating from the University of Hohenheim with a joint honors degree, Professor Haller completed a doctoral thesis in the field of food microbiology and nutrition science. He then worked in Switzerland and the USA as a visiting researcher, before being admitted to the Emmy Noether Programme of the German Research Foundation (DFG) and joining TUM as a Junior Research Group Leader.

After receiving offers from Canada (University of Alberta) and Switzerland (ETH Zurich), he now holds the Chair of Nutrition and Immunology and directs the Ziel Institute for Food and Health at the TUM Weihenstephan Campus. Professor Haller also directs and coordinates a range of international and national research programs (including the DFG Priority Program SPP1656 “Intestinal Microbiota” and the DFG Research Training Group GRK1482). He was presented the main prize of the German Society for Hygiene and Microbiology (DGHM) for his research work on microbiota.

Professor Haller (b. 1968) conducts research in the field of nutrition science. The main focus of his research is on bacteria (microbiota) in the intestine and their role both in chronic inflammatory diseases like Crohn's disease and in carcinogenesis. Epithelial tissue, which acts as a boundary with both metabolic and immunological functions in the intestine, occupies a central position in Professor Haller’s research work.