Arnold Graffi
Martin Arnold Graffi (born 19 June 1910 in Bistrita, Transylvania, Austria - Hungary, † January 30, 2006 in Berlin) was a German romania oncologist and pioneer of experimental cancer research in the 20th century in Germany. He worked in senior positions in various non-university research institutes of the Kaiser Wilhelm Society and later the Research Foundation of the Academy of Sciences of the GDR. For his life's work he received several major awards. In addition to working in the field of medicine had Graffi a musical talent and painted landscapes in watercolors.
Life
Training and first medical work
Arnold Graffi was born in 1910 in Bistrita in Transylvania. He came after the First World War with his parents to Germany. Here he studied from 1930 to 1935 medicine at the Philipps- University of Marburg, the University of Leipzig and the Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen. In 1940 he received his doctorate with the work of the maceration of the living child at the Charité in Berlin. He worked there from 1937 to 1939 with the surgeon Ferdinand Sauerbruch together.
Specializing in cancer research
By 1940 Graffi investigated in cancer research at the Paul Ehrlich Institute in Frankfurt am Main. After further research stays in Prague and Budapest, he came to Berlin in 1943. Graffi, where he worked in a research laboratory of Schering AG. He also worked at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Cell Physiology with Nobel Laureate Otto Warburg together. In 1948 he qualified as a professor at the Humboldt University in Berlin and received a call to the Academy - Institute for Medicine and Biology in Berlin-Buch. He was here first department head and studied the processes of carcinogenesis by chemicals and viruses. Arnold Graffi was a member from 1961 as a member of the Academy of Sciences of the GDR ( Academy of Sciences ) and was recorded three years later at the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina. With the division of the Institute of Medicine and Biology in several downstream equipment, he served from 1955 to 1961 as director of the newly founded Institute for Experimental Cancer Research and then as head of its successor agency, the 1964 created by merger with the Robert Rössle Clinic Institute for Cancer Research. After this from the beginning of 1972, the Central Institute for Cancer Research ( CIC ) was formed, he took on the position of the CEC in charge of the experimental range Deputy Director.
Development of new theoretical foundations of cancer and gene therapy
In the 1960s, Graffi developed a DNA-based therapeutic approach for cancer, viral diseases, and genetic diseases, and made fundamental contributions to modern molecular biology and biotechnology. With his ideas about so-called nucleic acid Antimatrizen he delivered the now pursued approaches to gene therapy. After he took over in 1973 after the death of the CEC Director Hans Gummel together with Theodor Matthes as acting head of the institute, he became Professor Emeritus in 1975. But he was still, engaged as professor emeritus in cancer research, particularly on issues of chemotherapy. So he returned to the beginning of the 1980s with the support of his former pupil Günter Pasternak at the Central Institute for Molecular Biology in Berlin-Buch temporarily in the active research back.
Familial
Shortly before his 80th birthday, Graffi he finally retired from scientific work. He was married and lived in Wandlitz in the artists' colony Framers lake. In his spare time he played the piano, also composed some pieces themselves. In addition, he painted watercolors, mainly of landscapes in the Berlin area. In January 2006, he died at the age of 95 years in Berlin.
Awards
Graffi was honored several times for his pioneering work in the field of experimental cancer research. These include membership of the Leopoldina and the presentation of Cothenius medal in 1977. Moreover him the National Prize of the GDR was awarded in 1955 and 1980, In 1979 he was awarded the Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter Prize and in 1984 the Helmholtz medal of the Academy of Sciences. The University of Leipzig in 1990 awarded him an honorary doctorate. Five years later he was awarded the Grand Cross of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany. On the Campus Berlin-Buch has been erected in his lifetime, a bronze bust here and a building of the biotechnology park takes its name.
Works (selection)
- Problems of experimental cancer research. Leipzig 1959
- Experiments and Considerations on the nature and cause of cancer. Berlin 1964
- Basics of neutron therapy. Berlin 1975
- Selected contributions to the diagnosis of malignant tumors. Berlin 1976
- DNA Repair and Cancer Research. Berlin 1979