Helga Rübsamen-Schaeff

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Helga Rübsamen-Schaeff (* as Helga Rübsamen, January 13, 1949 in Münchberg , Upper Franconia) is a German chemist , virologist and manager and entrepreneur.

biography

science

Helga Rübsamen-Schaeff grew up in Düsseldorf and from 1967 studied chemistry at the University of Münster with a diploma in 1971 and a doctorate in 1973 with Herbert Witzel . As a post-doctoral student , she was in Münster, at Cornell University (at GP Hess, work on the acetylcholine receptor and biophysical measurements) and at the Institute for Medical Virology in Giessen (virology and oncogenes, Heinz Bauer , Rudolf Rott ) and at the university Cologne (Institute for Human Virology, head of a working group) and at the Paul Ehrlich Institute in Frankfurt (1981). In 1982, 1983 and 1985 she was a visiting researcher at Harvard University (with James Mullins , cloning of a human leukemia virus HTLV-1 UK) and specialized in research on cancer development (oncogenes, biochemistry of tumor cells) and viruses that play a role in this. In 1983 she completed her habilitation in Frankfurt and from 1982 to 1986 was head of the immunotherapy department at the Chemotherapeutic Research Institute Georg-Speyer-Haus , where she was managing director from 1987 to 1993. At the Georg-Speyer-Haus she dealt with HIV and succeeded in isolating the first HIV strains in Germany from patients and showing that the virus occurs in extremely diverse variants and is constantly changing. After these initial successes, she was able to raise research funds that ensured the existence of research at the institute (it was separated from the Paul Ehrlich Institute in 1986). As a result, tests were developed at the institute and approaches for therapies sought, whereby she also worked with the pharmaceutical industry. But the search for genes that control cell growth in humans and that, if mutated or over-expressed, can lead to cancer development, was continued. From 1988 she was Professor of Biochemistry and Virology at the University of Frankfurt.

Industry

From 1994 to 2001 she was Vice President and Head of Virus Research at Bayer AG , from 2001 to 2006 she was Senior Vice President and Head of Anti- Infective Research at Bayer Health Care. In 2006, she founded the biotech company AiCuris in Wuppertal and was the Manager. AiCuris is a spin-off from Bayer AG, which separated from anti-infectives research in 2006. The Lipobay scandal in the USA with high claims for damages played a role in this . Bayer did not leave all active ingredients to AiCuris. AiCuris was financed with the help of the Hexal founders, the Strüngmann brothers, who sold Hexal to Novartis in 2005 and were looking for investment opportunities for the billions in proceeds (AiCuris was the beginning of their stakes in biotech companies). At AiCuris, chemotherapeutic agents against herpes simplex , adenoviruses , multi-resistant bacteria , hepatitis B virus and viral infections caused by the cytomegalovirus in transplants are researched and clinically tested. In 2012 she licensed letermovir , an inhibitor of the cytomegalovirus, to MSD ( Merck, Sharp & Dohme ). The drug has been on the market since the end of 2017.

Awards / Scholarships

In 1983 she received the Winnacker Scholarship. In 1995 she received the Federal Cross of Merit, 1st class. In 2004 she was Manager of the Year (Mestemacher Prize). In 2015 she was awarded the title Distinguished Woman in Chemistry and Chemical Engineering by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) .

In 2018 she and Holger Zimmermann received the German Future Prize for the development of a drug against the human cytomegalovirus . For 2020 she was awarded the Loeffler Frosch Medal of the Society for Virology .

Mandates

she is

  • on the supervisory board and the shareholders' council of Merck in Darmstadt,
  • on the supervisory board of 4SC AG,
  • Member of the supervisory board of the University Hospital Bonn and
  • Chair of the AiCuris Scientific Advisory Board.

In 2017 she became an honorary member of the Society of German Chemists (she was on its executive board , including as vice-president ). Until 2000 she was on the board of the Society for Virology and the German Aids Society. In 2018 she was elected a member of the National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina . She is u. a. Member of the Board of Trustees of Deutsche Demenzhilfe.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Brief CV of Prof. Dr. Helga Rübsamen-Schaeff , Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, accessed on February 17, 2020
  2. ↑ Company profile , AiCuris site, accessed on February 17, 2020
  3. ↑ Die Goldsucherin , brand eins, 2012, no.11, accessed on February 17, 2020
  4. ↑ German Future Prize 2018 for antivirus drug. In: Research and Teaching. November 29, 2018. Retrieved November 29, 2018 .
  5. ↑ Supervisory Board , 4SC website, accessed on February 17, 2020
  6. ^ Chair of the Scientific Advisory Board of AiCuris , AiCuris website, accessed February 17, 2020
  7. ↑ Duties of the Board of Trustees , website of Deutsche Demenzhilfe, accessed on February 17, 2020
personal data
SURNAME Rübsamen-Schaeff, Helga
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German chemist and manager
DATE OF BIRTH January 13, 1949
PLACE OF BIRTH Münchberg