Rolf Knippers

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Rolf Knippers (born April 18, 1936 in Mülheim an der Ruhr ; † July 29, 2017 in Konstanz ) was a German molecular biologist and geneticist and professor at the University of Konstanz .

Rolf Knippers studied human medicine in Marburg , Freiburg im Breisgau and Munich from 1955 and received his doctorate in 1962 at the Physiological-Chemical Institute of the University of Marburg with Theodor Bücher with a dissertation on free nucleotides in resting and growing tissues . After his clinical medical assistant (1962-1964) he went as a post-doctoral student to Hartmut Hoffmann-Berling's laboratory at the Max Planck Institute for Medical Research in Heidelberg and then to Caltech in Pasadena , USA (1966 to 1969), where he researched the DNA replication of the double-stranded bacteriophage φX174 with Robert L. Sinsheimer . Back in Germany, he completed his habilitation in 1969 at the University of Heidelberg before he became group leader at the Friedrich Miescher Laboratory of the Max Planck Society in Tübingen in 1970 . In 1973 he became a full professor for molecular genetics at the University of Konstanz and in 2004 he retired.

He was particularly concerned with the replication of DNA and its initialization and the characterization of the proteins involved (such as the histones ). He wrote a widespread German-language textbook on molecular genetics (first published in 1971 and the tenth edition in 2015).

In addition to basic research, some of his work also has application references, for example with regard to the chromatin-associated protein DEK, which is a relatively common autoantigen in autoimmune diseases and in the characterization of a DNA virus that attacks marine brown algae.

In 2005 he received the Gregor Mendel Medal . From 1997 to 2001 he was chairman and from 2008 honorary member of the Society for Genetics . He was instrumental in bringing the International Geneticist Congress 2008 to Germany. He was a member of the European Molecular Biology Organization .

Fonts

  • Biological information on the development of cancer: cell biological properties of cancer cells, Konstanzer Universitätsreden 82, 1976
  • The Brave New World and Its Consequences: A Contribution to the Current Discussion of Interventions in Human Reproduction, Konstanzer Universitätsreden 167, 1988
  • as editor: Transforming proteins of DNA viruses, Current topics in microbiology and immunology 144, Springer 1989 (Conference Titisee December 1988)
  • Editor with Ernst-L. Winnacker , J. Ruff and others: DNA replication and the cell cycle, Colloquium der Gesellschaft für Biologische Chemie 43, April 1992 Mosbach / Baden, Springer 1993
  • Molecular Genetics, Thieme, 10th edition 2015, ISBN 978-3134770100
  • Autism, viewed genetically: Changes in genes as a cause and trigger, Thieme 2016, ISBN 978-3-13-220801-8
  • A Brief History of Genetics, Springer 2017, ISBN 978-3662535547

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Prof. Dr. Rolf Knippers: Obituary notice. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung . August 3, 2017. Retrieved August 3, 2017 .
  2. ↑ Fascination Genetics - On the death of Rolf Knippers. In: biospektrum.de. Retrieved September 13, 2017 .
personal data
SURNAME Knippers, Rolf
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German molecular geneticist and professor at the University of Konstanz
DATE OF BIRTH April 18, 1936
PLACE OF BIRTH Mülheim an der Ruhr
DATE OF DEATH 29th July 2017
Place of death Constancy