Gebhard Koch

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Jost Gebhard Koch (born May 19, 1928 in Sulzbach ; † March 9, 2013 in Hamburg ) was a German molecular biologist and professor of molecular biology at the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf of the University of Hamburg . Together with Dietmar Richter from Hamburg, he initiated the Blankenese Conferences , an annual symposium on current topics in neurobiology and molecular biology.

Life

After studying medicine at the University of Mainz and the University of Heidelberg , where he received his doctorate in 1951, he was drawn to the emerging discipline of molecular biology as a postdoctoral fellow. He worked on bacteriophages for Wolfhard Weidel and Georg Melchers at the Max Planck Institute for Biology . Three research stays alone later took him to the United States of America . From 1957 to 1959 he conducted research in the laboratories of Hattie Alexander at Columbia University and Alexander Hershey in the Cold Spring Harbor laboratories . From 1965 to 1966 he worked with J. Michael Bishop at the National Institute of Health . Both later did research at the Heinrich Pette Institute in Hamburg. During his third stay, from 1970 to 1976, he was a scientist in the laboratories of Hoffmann-La Roche in Nutley , New Jersey. His early scientific work included contributions to RNA synthesis in eukaryotic cells and to the biology of the poliovirus .

In 1976 he finally returned to Germany, where he was director of the molecular biology department at the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf until 1992. Here he was the driving force behind the establishment of a postgraduate course , the postgraduate course in molecular biology (ASMB) . He is therefore considered the father of molecular biology research and further education in Hamburg. The course will be carried out by the Center for Molecular Neurobiology Hamburg (ZMNH) in cooperation with the Medical Faculty until the end of the 2020 summer semester (as of 2019) . In addition to Dietmar Richter, Koch was also significantly involved in the development and establishment of a scientific concept for the ZMNH. With Richter, he initiated the Blankenese Conferences as early as 1979 , which take place every year in the Elsa Brändström House. Koch's successor in the organizing committee has been Wolfgang Meyerhof from the German Institute for Nutritional Research in Potsdam since 2004 .

Until his retirement, Koch was a liaison professor at the German National Academic Foundation . Two of his brothers were also university teachers, the Protestant theologians Traugott and Klaus Koch . He left his wife Maria-Luise, with whom he was married for 60 years, a daughter, three sons, seven grandchildren and countless colleagues who received their training in his laboratory.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Jost Gebhard Koch's Obituary on New York Times. In: legacy.com. May 4, 2017. Retrieved May 5, 2017 .
  2. ↑ H. Kubinski, G. Koch: Regulation of the synthesis of various ribonucleic acids in animal cells. In: Biochemical and biophysical research communications. Volume 22, Number 3, February 1966, pp. 346-351, PMID 5938928 .
  3. ↑ JM Bishop, G. Koch: Infectious replicative intermediate of poliovirus: purification and characterization. In: Virology. Volume 37, Number 4, April 1969, pp. 521-534, PMID 4305631 .
  4. ↑ UKE - Friends and Sponsors of the UKE eV In: uke.de. Retrieved May 5, 2017 .
  5. ↑ UKE - Center for Molecular Neurobiology Hamburg (ZMNH) - Advanced Studies in Molecular Biology (ASMB). In: uke.de. Retrieved September 13, 2017 .
  6. ↑ Angela Grosse: Molecules for Hamburg. In: Abendblatt.de . Retrieved May 5, 2017 .
personal data
SURNAME Koch, Gebhard
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Koch, Jost Gebhard (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German molecular biologist and geneticist
DATE OF BIRTH May 19, 1928
PLACE OF BIRTH Sulzbach
DATE OF DEATH March 9, 2013
Place of death Hamburg