Ursula Jakob, Professor of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology, has been elected to membership in the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities (Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften) in Munich, Germany. Scholars are elected for research that has contributed to a "substantial increase of knowledge concerning their subject,” according to the academy. Established in 1759, it is one of the oldest learned societies in Germany. Its members have included Goethe, the Grimm brothers, Max Planck, Albert Einstein, and Werner Heisenberg.

Jakob is a corresponding member, a membership category for scholars who do not reside in Bavaria. Corresponding members number about 80 each year the sciences division. The Academy elects new members once a year; it is not possible to apply for membership.

Jakob researches the biochemical aspects of the bacterial response to heat shock and oxidative stress. In 2008, her group was the first to determine how bleach kills bacteria.

Jakob earned her B.S. and Ph.D. from Regensburg University in Germany. From 1996 until 1998 she was a postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Michigan with a fellowship from the German government. In addition to her MCDB appointment, she is also a professor of biological chemistry.