Kathryn Nixdorff is Professor Emerita in Microbiology and Genetics at Darmstadt University of Technology, Germany, focusing on the regulation of the interaction of microorganisms with the immune system. In addition, she has been working on biological weapons disarmament issues for more than two decades, particularly concerning the role of scientific and technological developments in this context. She is a founding member of IANUS– a synonym for natural and engineering peace research in exchange with the social sciences and humanities–at Darmstadt University of Technology. From 2013 to 2014 she worked as an outside expert with the Working Group on Biosecurity for the German Ethics Council, which produced an Opinion on Biosecurity including recommendations for dealing with security-relevant research in the life sciences (German Ethics Council, Biosecurity – Freedom and Responsibility of Research, 2014). From 2014-2020 she was a member of the Joint Committee of the German Research Foundation (DFG) and the German National Academy of Sciences (Leopoldina) on The Handling of Security-Relevant Research. This committee is dedicated to advancing the implementation of the recommendations of DFG and Leopoldina in dealing with security-relevant research at universities and other research institutions in Germany. She is currently a member of the research project CBWNet, https://cbwnet.org/.