Hartmut Wekerle

Hartmut Wekerle (born May 30, 1944) is a German medical scientist and neurobiologist. He is the emeritus director at the Max Planck Institute of Neurobiology and was the head of its department of Neuroimmunology until 2012.

Biography[]

Hartmut Wekerle was born in Waldshut in 1944. He studied medicine at the University of Freiburg. In 1967, he began scientific research at the Max Planck Institute for Immunobiology in Freiburg as a PhD student under Herbert Fischer. He finished his doctorate in 1971. After graduation, he worked at the Weizmann Institute of Science from 1971 to 1973 as a postdoctorate researcher. Later on, he led the Research Group for Multiple Sclerosis at the Institute of Clinical Neurobiology at the University Hospital of the University of Würzburg. In 1988, he was appointed director at the Max Planck Institute of Neurobiology, where he served until 2012.^[1][2]

Scientific focus[]

Much of Hartmut Wekerle's scientific research focuses on the underlying causes and mechanisms of diseases which arise due to a conflict between the immune system and the nervous system. His main focus is on multiple sclerosis.^[3]

Wekerle's work led to a number of scientific discoveries. Examples include:

• Potentially autoaggressive T lymphocytes in a healthy immune system.^[4]
• The specialized organization of the immune response in the nervous system.^[5]
• The role of B cells in autoimmune reactions of the nervous system.^[6]

Foundation[]

The Rosa-Laura and Hartmut Wekerle Foundation was founded in 2003 by Prof. Hartmut Wekerle, then Director Emeritus of the Max Planck Institute of Neurobiology, and his wife, .^[7]

The foundation supports young scientists, in biological and medical fields, at the Max Planck Institute of Neurobiology and their research. Past winners include:

Awards[]

• Ernst Jung Prize for Medicine (1982)^[1]
• Duchenne Prize (1984)^[1]
• K-J. Zülch Prize (1999, awarded by the Max-Planck-Gesellschaft, now known as The International Prize for Translational Neuroscience of the Gertrud Reemtsma Foundation)^[1][8]
• Charcot Award (International Federation of MS Societies, 2001)^[1]
• Louis D Award (Grand Prix des Academies des Sciences, Paris, 2002)^[1]
• Honorary Professor, University of Munich (1993)^[1]
• Member of Leopoldina (German National Academy of Natural Sciences, 2002)^[1]
• Hertie School Senior Professorship (2011)^[1]
• Granted Reinhart Koselleck Project (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, 2013)^[1][9]
• Honorary Doctorate of the Medical Faculty of the University of Hamburg (2013)^[1]
• Honorary Doctorate of the University of Würzburg (2014)^[1]
• Honorary Member of the Société Francaise de Neurologie (2016)^[1]
• Honorary Member of the Cuban Neursocience Society (2017)^[1]
• Jacob Henle Medal (2018)^[1][10]

References[]

External links[]

• Homepage of the department Neuroimmunology