Claudia Köhler studied biology at the University of Halle, received her PhD from the University of Freiburg in 1999, and worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Zurich before joining ETH Zurich as an assistant professor in 2005. Since 2010, she has been a full professor at the Swedish University of Agriculture in Uppsala. She is an elected member of the Swedish Royal Academy of Science, the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) and a member of the National Academy of Sciences, Leopoldina. Since February 2021, Claudia Köhler is head of Department II at the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology in Potsdam-Golm.