Peter Gruss

Peter Gruss ( born June 28, 1949 in Alsfeld ) is a German cell biologist. He is since 2002 President of the Max Planck Society.

Life and work

Gruss grew up in Alsfeld. He completed his high school education in 1968 at the Schwalm school Treysa / Hessen (now Schwalm city) in Mathematics and Science branch. He studied biology at the TH Darmstadt. After graduating, he took off in 1973, Gruss conducted research from 1974 to 1977 at the Institute for Virus Research of the German Cancer Research Centre in Heidelberg for his doctorate with a tumor virus. In 1977 she received her doctorate at the University of Heidelberg. Then he initially continued to work as an assistant at the Institute for Virus Research at the German Cancer Research Center in Heidelberg from 1978 to 1982, he worked as a postdoctoral fellow at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland (USA) on the transcription of tumor viruses.

In 1982 he came back to Heidelberg, became a professor at the Institute of Microbiology ( until 1986 ) and led English as a language seminar. From 1983 he was a member of the Board of the Center for Molecular Biology in Heidelberg. During this time he organized several international symposia. Since 1986 he has been a Scientific Member of the Max Planck Society and director of the division " Molecular Cell Biology " at the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry and since 1990 Honorary Professor at the University of Göttingen.

Gruss put his focus on the processes of gene regulation. His particular interest was the genetic and cell biological building blocks for switching on and off of genetic programs in tumor viruses and during embryonic development. In experiments with mice, he was able to identify key controlling genes ( so-called Pax genes) that control the development of various organs. In a study on the pancreas he made of genes that contribute to the development of insulin -producing Langerhans cells. On this basis, it was also possible to differentiate stem cells into insulin-producing cells.

Since 14 June 2002, he is President of the Max Planck Society. He was elected on 23 November 2001 by the Senate of the Max Planck Society for a term from 2002 to 2008 and confirmed on 28 June 2007 for a second term with a term until 2014.

Company Formation

Gruss also strove for the application of its findings: In 1977 he founded, together with Herbert Jaeckle, Wolfgang Driever and Herbert Stadler, the company DeveloGen AG in Göttingen, which is since 2010 part of the company Evotec. The company dedicated to the development of new methods of treatment of metabolic and endocrine diseases with a focus on diabetes.

Acting as President of the Max Planck Society

Gruss was when he took office in the press as "makers of American style ," the Mirror called him a "modest occurring Wings".

In the inaugural speech by greeting the financial scope of the research in mind: he called for the implementation of a research collective-bargaining law in order to attract the world's best scientists can. Furthermore, greeting spoke for reliable financial economic conditions: " Only adequate, committed over a long period growth rates for the budget of MPG can ensure planning security." After the increases in the budget of the MPG are been lower earlier in the year as requested threatened cuts in the institute households.

Gruss pointed repeatedly to the fact that the appointment of directors of the Max Planck Society done in competition with the world's leading research institutions:

" We at the Max Planck but not compete with the average, but with the Harvard, Cambridge and ETH Zurich to the world "

Germany was in an international comparison is not competitive in salaries; However, the Max Planck Society is due to the support of the Max - Planck - Support Foundation and through their world-famous predictability able to largely compensate for this disadvantage.

A first step in improving the financial conditions for top scientists from abroad is the science of freedom initiative, which offers new financial freedoms since 2009, the non-university research institutions.

In the term of greeting, several institutes were converted or re-founded: The MPI for Research on Collective Goods and the MPI for Ornithology was collected by a research group of the Institute, the Max Planck Institute for the History was changed based on the MPI for multi-religious and multi-ethnic systems, the MPI for biology of aging and the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light were established. The Max Planck Florida Institute, the first institute of the Max Planck Society was founded outside Europe; it is funded by the State of Florida and the local County. Furthermore, the Max Planck Institute for Metals Research in the MPI was transferred for Intelligent Systems and founded a branch of the institute at the site of Tübingen new.

As a new subsidiary of the Max Planck Society, the Lead Discovery Center was founded in 2008 in Dortmund, which aims to facilitate an improved technology transfer of newly developed active pharmaceutical ingredients ..

Success is in particular the international networking: Once as a "model " the foundation of the Institute in Florida was announced, the MPG inquiries from Canada and South Korea reached after a report from the mirror to the establishment of institutions .. 25 percent of the directors of the Max Planck society have a foreign passport.

In an interview greeting outlined a new strategy for the creation of so-called "Max - Planck - centers " for cooperation with foreign research institutions that already exist among others in Shanghai, Buenos Aires and New Delhi.

Reports of the Max Planck Society

  • The future of aging: the answer of science ( a report of the Max Planck Society) München: Beck 2007, ISBN 978-3-406-55746-0.
  • (Ed. together with Ferdi Schüth ): The Future of Energy: the answer of science ( a report of the Max Planck Society) München: Beck 2008, ISBN 978-3-406-57639-3.
  • (Ed., together with Tobias Bonhoeffer ): Future brain: new insights, new challenges ( a report of the Max Planck Society) München: Beck 2011, ISBN 978-3-406-61642-6.

Memberships in Academies

Since 2003, Gruss Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, since 2004 he is a full member of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences. He is also a member of the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen (since 1996 ) and the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina ( since 1995). He is also a member of the Academia Europaea.

Positions in academic bodies (selection)

Prizes and awards

The U.S. " Institute of Scientific Information " (ISI ) leads him into his database of " Highly Cited Researcher " in the field "Molecular Biology and Genetics". The database takes from each subject area to only the 250 most-cited scientists in the world.

  • 2012: Bavarian Maximilian Order for Science and Art
  • 2009: Cross of Merit 1st class of the Federal Republic of Germany
  • 2007: Medal for International Cooperation in Science and Technology of the People 's Republic of China
  • 2004: Lower Saxony State Prize
  • 1999: German Future Prize jointly with Herbert Jaeckle
  • 1995: Louis -Jeantet Prize for Medicine, Geneva
  • 1994: Leibniz Prize

Publications (selection)

  • Biotechnology as a future factor in: Made in Germany '21 - Innovation for a just future. Edited: F.-W. Steinmeier, M. Machning. , Hoffmann und Campe, Hamburg 2004, p.199 -210
  • Open access to science and culture. In: Science. Volume 303, No. 5656, 2004, pp. 311-312
  • Human ES cells in Europe. In: Science. Volume 301, 2003, pp. 1017
  • Marquardt, T., R. Ashery - Padan, N. Andrejewski, R. Scardigli, F. Guillemot, P. Gruss: Pax6 is required for the Multi- Potent State of Retinal Progenitor Cells. In: Cell. Volume 105, No. 1, 2001, pp. 43-55
  • Cecconi, F., G. Alvarez- Bolado, BI Meyer, KA Roth, P. Gruss: Apaf1 ( CED -4 homolog ) Regulates Programmed Cell Death in mammalian development. In: Cell. Volume 94, No. 6, 1998, pp. 727-737
  • St- Onge, L., B. Sosa - Pineda, K. Chowdhury, A. Mansouri, P. Gruss: Pax6 is required for differentiation of glucagon -producing a- cells in mouse pancreas. In: Nature. Volume 387, No. 6631, 1997, pp. 406-409
  • Sosa - Pineda, B., K. Chowdhury, M. Torres, G. Oliver, P. Gruss: The Pax4 gene is essential for differentiation of insulin -producing b cells in the mammalian pancreas. In: Nature. Volume 386, No. 6623, 1997, pp. 399-402
  • Kessel, M., P. Gruss: homeotic transformations of murine vertebrae and concommitant alteration of Hox codes induced by retinoic acid. In: Cell. Volume 67, No. 1, 1991, pp. 89-104
  • Scholer, HR, T. Ciesiolka, P. Gruss: A nexus in between Oct-4 and E1A: implications for gene regulation in embryonic stem cells. In: Cell. Volume 66, No. 2, 1991, pp. 291-304
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