Dr Jan Böhning

Position Governing Body Fellow Junior Research Fellow
School MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology Biological Sciences
Email jboehning@mrc-lmb.cam.ac.uk
X Profile @janboeh
Department link MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology

Jan’s research aims to provide a better understanding of how the bacterium that causes tuberculosis can persist within the human body, using a mixture of structural biology and infection biology approaches.

Jan studied Biochemistry at the Universities of Bayreuth and Munich in Germany, with an extended research stay at the University of California, San Diego. He then completed his doctorate at the University of Oxford, studying the structure of multicellular assemblies of bacteria, which play important roles in chronic infection.

Now based at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology as an MRC Career Development Fellow, Jan is working at the interface of structural and infection biology.

Jan’s postdoctoral work focuses on obtaining a better understanding of how the causative agent of tuberculosis, the bacterium Mycobacterium tuberculosis, maintains the integrity of its cell envelope. This cell envelope prevents host factors and antibiotics from entering the bacterial cell and killing it, but it is unclear how these bacteria can selectively take up nutrients and export virulence factors at the same time. Using a mixture of structural and infection biology approaches, Jan’s research attempts to elucidate the role of membrane transporter complexes in this process, helping to better understand this important pathogen and providing the groundwork for the development of new drugs and therapies against tuberculosis.

What's on

Event Type (field_event_type)

A tree-lined campus walkway covered in golden autumn leaves leads toward a building, creating a vibrant canopy with a few people walking along the path.

Open Cambridge - Tree Trail

11/09/2026 at 10.00

A self-guided Tree Trail taking you through the beautiful and varied gardens of Wolfson College.

Abstract painting featuring a simplified yellow outlined figure beside a faint sepia-toned face rendered on textured canvas.

Art Exhibition: 'Images and Other Conversations'

12/09/2026 at 10.00

Visit Wolfson's latest exhibition 'Images and Other Conversations', featuring work by artists Suleman Aqeel Khilji and Charlotte Winifred Guérard, winners of the Wolfson Royal Academy Schools Graduate Prize.