Katja Becker

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Katja Becker (born March 7, 1965 in Heidelberg , called Katja Becker-Brandenburg in some older publications ) is a German doctor and biochemist. From 2009 to 2012 she was Vice President for Research at the Justus Liebig University in Giessen . From 2015 to 2017 she was a German member of the Scientific Committee of the COST program in Brussels. From 2014 to 2019 she was Vice President of the German Research Foundation (DFG), and on January 1, 2020, she became the first female DFG President to take over from Peter Strohschneider .

Life

Katja Becker studied medicine at the Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg from 1984 to 1991 . In 1988 she completed her doctorate on glutathione reductase and her apoenzyme: Contributions to the chemotherapy of malaria and the diagnosis of FAD deficiency with Heiner Schirmer with summa cum laude . In 1996, she completed her habilitation in biochemistry at the Medical Faculty of Heidelberg University. After training at the John Radcliffe Hospital Oxford and the Cantonal Hospital Basel , she gained clinical and research-related experience in Nigeria and Ghana and as a postdoc at the University of Sydney . In 1998 she passed the specialist examination for "biochemistry" in Heidelberg.

She then worked as a senior assistant at the Biochemistry Center at Heidelberg University. In 1999 she took a reputation as a junior research group at the Center for Infection Research at the University of Würzburg in.

In 2000 Katja Becker accepted a professorship for biochemistry and molecular biology at the Justus Liebig University in Giessen , which is part of the university's interdisciplinary research center for the bioscientific fundamentals of environmental protection (IFZ) . Her main research interests include the role of oxidative stress and antioxidative protective mechanisms in the development of diseases and the development of new drugs against tumor and infectious diseases (especially malaria ). In 2006, she spent six months researching at the Scripps Research Institute La Jolla, CA, USA.

Since 2014, Katja Becker has been chairwoman of the Senate's Standing Commission for Fundamental Questions in Genetic Research and coordinator of the DFG priority program 1710 "Dynamics of Thiol-based Redox Switches in Cellular Physiology". Since 2018 she has been coordinating the LOEWE Center DRUID “Novel Drug Targets against Poverty-related and Neglected Tropical Infectious Diseases” as part of the Hessian State Offensive for the Promotion of Scientific and Economic Excellence ( LOEWE ).

Commitment and awards

Katja Becker is a member of numerous scientific and political advisory committees, reviewer and conference organizer. In 1989 the Southwest German Society for Internal Medicine awarded her the Ludolf Krehl Prize for her dissertation. She has received several awards for her research and teaching achievements, such as the Carus Medal of the German Academy of Natural Scientists Leopoldina in autumn 2003 . From 2000 to 2005 Becker was a member of the Young Academy of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and the Leopoldina. She has been a member of the Leopoldina since June 2009 ( matriculation no. 7256 ) and was one of the youngest members.

On October 21, 2009 she was elected as the first woman to the office of Vice President of Giessen University. Her three-year term began on November 1, 2009.

In March 2010 she received the Rudolf Leuckart Medal from the German Society for Parasitology for her work on the energy metabolism of pathogenic parasites such as the malaria pathogen.

Katja Becker was Vice President of the German Research Foundation from 2014 to the end of 2019 . At the DFG general meeting in Rostock on July 3, 2019, she was elected president as the first female scientist. Becker took up her new office on January 1, 2020, initially for four years.

Fonts

Books

  • Katja Becker, Paul M. Seltzer: Apicomplexan Parasites: Molecular Approaches toward Targeted Drug Development. Drug Discovery in Infectious Diseases 2. Wiley-Blackwell, Weinheim 2011, ISBN 978-3-527-32731-7 .

Selected essay publications

  • Becker, Katja; Savvides, Savvas N .; Keese, Michael; Schirmer, R. Heiner; Karplus, P. Andrew: Enzyme inactivation through sulfhydryl oxidation by physiologic NO-carriers . In: Nature Structural Biology 5 (4), 1998: pp. 267-271. doi : 10.1038 / nsb0498-267
  • Kanzok, Stefan M .; Fechner, Anke; Bauer, Holger; Ulschmid, Julia K .; Müller, Hans-Michael; Botella-Munoz, José; Schneuwly, Stephan; Schirmer, R. Heiner}; Becker, Katja (January 26, 2001), Substitution of the thioredoxin system for glutathione reductase in Drosophila melanogaster , Science 291 (5504), 2001, pp. 643-646. doi : 10.1126 / science.291.5504.643
  • Perez-Jimenez, Raul; Li, Jingyuan; Kosuri, Pallav; Sanchez-Romero, Immaculada; Wiita, Arun P .; Rodriguez-Larrea, David; Chueca, Ana; Holmgren, Arne; Miranda-Vizuete, Antonio; Becker, Katja; Cho, Seung-Hyun; Beckwith, Jon ; Gelhaye, Eric; Jacquot, Jean P .; Gaucher, Eric A .; Sanchez-Ruiz, Jose M .; Berne, Bruce J .; Fernandez, Julio M .: Diversity of chemical mechanisms in thioredoxin catalysis revealed by single-molecule force spectroscopy . Nature Structural & Molecular Biology 16 (8), 2009, pp. 890-896. doi : 10.1038 / nsmb.1627
  • Fritz-Wolf, Karin; Kehr, Sebastian; Stump, Michaela; Rahlfs, Stefan; Becker, Katja: Crystal structure of the human thioredoxin reductase – thioredoxin complex . Nature Communications 2: 383, 2011. doi: 10.1038 / ncomms1382 .
  • War, Reimar; Jortzik, Esther; Goetz, Alice-Anne; Blandine, Stèphanie; Wittlin, Sergio; Elhabiri, Mourad; Rahbari, Mahsa; Nuryyeva, Selbi; Voigt, Kerstin; Dahse, Hans-Martin; Brakhage, Axel; Beckmann, Svenja; Quack, Thomas; Grevelding, Christoph G .; Pinkerton, Anthony B .; Schönecker, Bruno; Burrows, Jeremy; Davioud-Charvet, Elisabeth; Rahlfs, Stefan; Becker, Katja: Arylmethylamino steroids as antiparasitic agents . Nature Communications 8: 14478, 2017. doi: 10.1038 / ncomms14478 .

literature

  • Leopoldina Newly elected members 2009, Leopoldina, Halle (Saale) 2010, p. 8 ( PDF )

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Biography of Katja Becker at the COST Science Council
  2. ↑ List of Becker's DFG projects
  3. ^ Eva Richter-Kuhlmann: Katja Becker. First President of the DFG. In: Deutsches Ärzteblatt. Volume 116, Issue 29/30, (July 22) 2019, p. B 1147.
  4. ↑ Dynamics of Thiol-based Redox Switches in Cellular Physiology . Retrieved July 11, 2018.
  5. ^ Funded projects of the DFG (GEPRIS) . Retrieved July 11, 2018.
  6. ↑ LOEWE Center DRUID . Retrieved July 11, 2018.
  7. ↑ New LOEWE center DRUID researches the fight against tropical diseases . Retrieved July 11, 2018. 
  8. ↑ Awarded the Ludolf Krehl Prize 1989 in the Deutsches Ärzteblatt 1990
  9. ↑ Carus Medal for Prof. Dr. Katja Becker-Brandenburg . Charlotte Brückner-Ihl Department for Press and Public Relations at Justus Liebig University Gießen in: IDW-Online
  10. ↑ Membership in the Junge Akademie is limited to five years.
  11. ↑ JLU professor Katja Becker elected in Leopoldina . Justus Liebig University Giessen press release in: Science Information Service June 6, 2009
  12. ↑ Member entry by Prof. Dr. Katja Becker (with picture and CV) at the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina , accessed on June 29, 2016.
  13. ↑ Prof. Dr. Katja Becker elected Vice President . Press release from Justus Liebig University Giessen in: Science Information Service, October 21, 2009
  14. ↑ Large majority for Prof. Katja Becker . Article in the Gießener Allgemeine October 21, 2009
  15. ↑ fod: On the trail of the malaria pathogen. In: Gießener Anzeiger, March 26, 2010, p. 17
  16. ^ List of the winners of the Rudolf Leuckart Medal
  17. ↑ CV of Katja Becker at the DFG
  18. ^ German Research Foundation: Katja Becker becomes President of the DFG . Press release of July 3, 2019, accessed on July 3, 2019
personal data
SURNAME Becker, Katja
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German physician and biochemist
DATE OF BIRTH March 7, 1965
PLACE OF BIRTH Heidelberg