Volkmar Braun

Volkmar Braun (born July 18, 1938 in Ravensburg ) is a German microbiologist and molecular biologist .

Braun studied chemistry from 1957 at the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg and the Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich , where he graduated in 1965 and received his doctorate at the Max Planck Institute for Biochemistry. In 1965/66 he was a post-doctoral student at Caltech , 1966/67 at the Max Planck Institute for Biochemistry in Munich, from 1967 to 1971 at the Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology in Tübingen and from 1972 to 1974 at the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics for Biology in Berlin. In 1974 he became full professor for microbiology at the University of Tübingen , where he was dean of the department of biology in 1975/76 and director of the institute for biology II from 1989/90. 2000 to 2005 he was director of the institute for microbiology. Braun is (March 2015) visiting scientist at the Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology in Tübingen; from 2007 he was a "Fellow" of the Max Planck Society at the MPI for Developmental Biology for several years

From 1991 to 1999 he headed the Graduate School Microbiology of the German Research Foundation.

Braun deals with pathogenic bacteria such as the causative agents of intestinal diseases, diphtheria, whooping cough, cholera and their toxins, where he discovered a new class of bacterial toxins that perforate the cell wall of the host cell attacked. He discovered an important protein in the cell wall of bacteria (brown lipoprotein).

In particular, he is known for his studies on iron metabolism. He examined the iron metabolism of bacteria and discovered a number of small transport molecules that deliver iron to the bacterial cell, which also led to starting points for more effective antibiotics (via the active iron transport mechanism of the bacteria).

Braun is married and has two children.

Awards, memberships, offices

• Prize of the German Society for Hygiene and Microbiology 1982
• Robert Koch Prize 1994
• Member of the Heidelberg Academy of Sciences since 1998
• Member of the Leopoldina since 2008
• Honorary doctorate from the University of Würzburg (2005).
• Member of the advisory board of the Rudolf Virchow Center in Würzburg.

Fonts

• Global Infection Threats - Are Bacterial Infections Manageable? . Writings of the natural science math. Class of the Heidelberg Academy of Sciences, Springer, 2001

Web links

• Literature by and about Volkmar Braun in the catalog of the German National Library
• Laudation for the election to the Leopoldina 2008 ( Memento from May 15, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
• Curriculum Vitae at the University of Tübingen
• Laudation honorary doctorate University of Würzburg
• Page about Braun with curriculum vitae at the MPI for Developmental Biology, as of March 2015

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e f} biography of Volkmar Braun. (No longer available online.) Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology , archived from the original on May 14, 2014 ; accessed on May 14, 2014 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
2. ↑ ^{a b c} Curriculum Vitae on the Leopoldina website. (PDF) Leopoldina , accessed on May 14, 2014 (142 KB). 
3. ↑ Member entry of Volkmar Braun (with picture and CV) at the German Academy of Natural Scientists Leopoldina , accessed on July 1, 2016.