Petra Levin

Petra Anne Levin is an American microbiologist. She is a professor in the department of biology and co-director of the Plant and Microbial Biosciences Graduate Program at Washington University in St. Louis.

Education and early career

Levin graduated, cum laude, from Williams College with a bachelor of arts in biology in 1989. She worked as a science teacher at the American School in Switzerland from 1989 to 1990. Levin completed a doctor of philosophy in biology from Harvard University in 1996. Her dissertation was titled Asymmetric Division During Spore Formation in Bacillus subtillis. Her doctoral advisor was Richard Losick. Levin was a postdoctoral fellow in the MIT Department of Biology under advisor Alan Grossman.

Career Levin was an assistant professor at Washington University in St. Louis in the department of biology. She was an associate professor from 2008 to 2015 before becoming a professor. In 2015, she became the co-director of the Plant and Microbial Biosciences Graduate Program at Washington University.