I am a plant ecologist characterised by an emotion-driven selection of research topics, which focus mainly on plant–insect interactions, defensive mutualisms, plant volatiles, innate immunity and its potential for biological control and the role of extracellular DNA as immunostimulant in plants and driver of inflammation in humans. My academic background combines Biology, Geology, and Philosophy, which I studied at the University of Würzburg, Germany, where I also earned my PhD. Following postdoctoral research at the Centre d'Écologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive (CEFE) in Montpellier (France), I served as an Emmy Noether junior research group leader at the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology in Jena. In 2004, I was appointed Chair of Botany at the University of Duisburg-Essen, where I headed the Department of General Botany and directed the university’s Botanical Garden, becoming the youngest full professor in Germany at the time. Since 2007, I have been based at Cinvestav Irapuato in Mexico, where I lead the Plant Ecology Laboratory. My research addresses: • Mutualistic interactions among plants, insects, and microbes • Self/non-self recognition in innate immunity and mutualistic interactions. • Extracellular DNA and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) as damage-associated molecular patterns (DAMPs) • Immunostimulants for crops from eDNA and VOCs for sustainable agriculture. I have published ca 150 articles which have received a total of < 20,700 citations (H-Index 73).