S. Heilbronner studied biology with a focus on microbiology and immunology at the University of Tübingen, Germany and completed his PhD on Staphylococcus lugdunensis at Trinity College Dublin in Ireland. He then returned to Tübingen as a postdoctoral researcher and group leader. In 2023, he was appointed Professor of Microbiology at Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Germany. S. Heilbronner investigates the molecular principles of staphylococcal virulence and host colonisation with a major focus of nutritional interactions between the pathogen and host or the endogenous microbiota within the nasal cavity.