Martin Kaltenpoth obtained his MSc and PhD degrees from the University of Würzburg, followed by postdoctoral research at the University of Regensburg and the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. In 2009, he established the Insect Symbiosis Research Group at the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology in Jena. Since 2015, he is full professor for Evolutionary Ecology at the Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz, Germany. His research focuses on the evolution, chemical and molecular ecology of insect-microbe symbioses, with a special interest in defensive alliances.