Herbert Theile

Herbert Theile (born  July 2, 1930 in Chemnitz ) is a German human geneticist . In 1977 he was appointed to the first chair for human genetics in the German Democratic Republic (GDR) at the University of Leipzig and, through his work, made a significant contribution to establishing human genetics as an independent subject in teaching and research in the GDR. In addition, he made important contributions to the diagnosis and treatment of phenylketonuria .

Life

Herbert Theile was born in Chemnitz in 1930 and studied medicine at the University of Leipzig from 1949 to 1954 . After receiving his doctorate in 1954, he worked at the Institute for Physiological Chemistry from 1955 to 1959 and then at the Children's Clinic at Leipzig University. In 1962 he finished his training as a specialist in paediatrics , two years later he received his habilitation and was appointed lecturer in paediatrics. From 1970 he headed the Digestive and Metabolic Diseases Department and, from 1974, the Department of Metabolism and Genetics of the Children's Clinic.

In 1977 he received a call to the first chair for human genetics in the GDR and head of an independent department of human genetics at the University of Leipzig. From 1970 to 1976 he was a member of the board of the Society for Pediatrics of the GDR and from 1981 to 1991 of the Society for Human Genetics of the GDR. After German reunification , he worked from 1992 until his retirement in 1996 as a full professor of human genetics and from 1993 as director of the university's newly established Institute for Human Genetics.

Scientific work

Herbert Theile published around 240 scientific publications . The focus of his research was on biochemical genetics, in particular studies on liver and bilirubin metabolism , the therapy of phenylketonuria , pharmacogenetics , glycogen storage diseases , cystic fibrosis , hereditary muscular dystrophies , prenatal diagnostics and chromosomal aberrations . In 1974, together with the Greifswald geneticist Alwin Knapp and Günther Cobet from the Berlin Charité, he was awarded the GDR National Prize for setting up a registration and care system for patients with phenylketonuria .

Works (selection)

• Congenital hereditary metabolic disorders. Leipzig 1968
• Acute and chronic nutritional disorders in childhood. Leipzig 1971
• Functional diagnostics in childhood. Leipzig 1974; also licensed edition Stuttgart 1974, second edition Stuttgart 1980 (as co-editor)

literature

• Helmut Willgerodt, Eberhard Keller: Prof. Dr. med. habil. Herbert Theile on his 75th birthday. In: Ärzteblatt Sachsen. 17 (2) / 2006. Saxon State Medical Association , p. 79, ISSN  0938-8478
• Eberhard Passarge: Professor Herbert Theile, Leipzig, on his birthday. In: Medical Genetics. 22 (3) / 2010. German Society for Human Genetics, p. 363/364, ISSN  0936-5931