Since 1994 Alexander Steinbuchel has been Full Professor of Microbiology and Director of the Institute for Microbiology at the University of Munster. He completed his doctoral studies at the University of Gottingen in 1983. In 1985 he spent one year at the Rockefeller University New York and in 1992 he received the Philip Morris Research Award. Alexander Steinbuchel has over 250 publications to his name and has organized several symposia focusing on biopolymers. He is Editor-in-Chief of the journal Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology and member on the editorial boards of Microbiology, FEMS