Professor Dr. Katja Becker - President of the DFG
President of the DFG, Professor Dr. Katja Becker
© DFG / David Ausserhofer
Career History (Selection)
Year / period | Description |
---|---|
Since 2000 | Full (C4/W3) Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Giessen |
2005 - 2006 | 6-month research visit to Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, CA, Proteomic Mass Spectrometry Lab, Prof. John Yates III |
1999 - 2000 | Junior Group Leader at the Research Center for Infectious Diseases, University of Würzburg |
1998 | Medical specialisation in Biochemistry |
1996 | Habilitation in Biochemistry, Heidelberg University |
1994 | 6-month research visit to Institute of Pathology, Prof. N. H. Hunt, University of Sydney, Australia |
1993 | Licence to practise medicine |
1988 - 1999 | Research associate at Heidelberg University Biochemistry Center |
1988 - 1993 | Clinical training and research stays abroad (Royal Flying Doctor Service, Australia; Kantonsspital Basel, John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford; Nigeria, Ghana) |
1986 - 1988 | Dissertation with Prof. Heiner Schirmer at Institute of Biochemistry II, Heidelberg University; title: "Glutathione reductase and its apoenzyme: contributions to the chemotherapy of malaria and the diagnosis of FAD deficiencies" (summa cum laude) |
1984 - 1991 | Studies in human medicine, Heidelberg University |
Offices and Roles in the Research System
Year / period | Description |
---|---|
Since 2020 | President of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) |
2021 - 2023 | Chair of the Governing Board of the Global Research Council (GRC) |
2020 - 2023 | Chair of the Commission for Pandemic Research, DFG (ex officio) |
2014 - 2019 | Vice President of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) |
2009 - 2012 | Vice President for Research and Early Career Support, University of Giessen |
2007 - 2014 | Spokesperson for the Bioresources and Biotechnology Section, Giessen Graduate Center for the Life Sciences |
2004 - 2005 | Spokesperson for the interdisciplinary Research Centre for BioSystems, Land Use and Nutrition (IFZ), University of Giessen |
2018 - 2019 | Spokesperson for LOEWE centre DRUID (Novel Drug Targets against Poverty-related and Neglected Tropical Infectious Diseases), part of an initiative by the state of Hesse to promote scientific and economic excellence |
2014 - 2019 | Spokesperson for DFG Priority Programme 1710 "Dynamics of Thiol-based Redox Switches in Cellular Physiology" |
Functions in Scientific Societies and Committees / Advisory Activities
Year / period | Description |
---|---|
2021 | Involvement in the statement "The Need for a One Health Approach to Zoonotic Diseases and Antimicrobial Resistance" for the G7 summit 2022 |
2020 | Involvement in the statement "Coronavirus Pandemic – Measures Relevant to Health", Leopoldina (April 2020) |
2020 | Involvement in the statement „Coronavirus Pandemic in Germany: Challenges and Options for Intervention“, Leopoldina (March 2020) |
2020 - 2023 | Chair (ex officio) of the DFG’s Interdisciplinary Commission for Pandemic Research |
2017 - 2018 | Member of the German government round table on Internationalisation of Education, Science and Research |
2016 - 2017 | Involvement in the statement on Improving Global Health for the G20 summit 2017 |
2015 - 2017 | German representative on the Scientific Committee of the EU COST programme |
2016 - 2020 | Member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Research Center for Infectious Diseases, University of Würzburg |
2014 - 2015 | Involvement in the statement on Neglected Tropical Diseases for the G7 summit 2015 |
2013 - 2019 | Member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Kerckhoff Heart Research Institute, Bad Nauheim |
2007 - 2010 | Member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Center for International Development and Environmental Research |
Honours and Awards
Year / period | Description |
---|---|
2010 | Rudolf Leuckart Medal of the German Society for Parasitology |
Since 2009 | Member of the Leopoldina, Germany's National Academy of Sciences |
2003 / 2004 | Carus Medal of the Deutsche Akademie für Naturforscher Leopoldina/Carus Prize of the city of Schweinfurt |
2000 - 2005 | Member of the Junge Akademie of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities and the Deutsche Akademie der Naturforscher Leopoldina |
2003 | Support for the congress "Redox Metabolism in Malaria: From Genes to Drugs", Bellagio, Italy, from the Rockefeller Foundation (together with Prof. Hagai Ginsburg, Hebrew University) |
1989 | First Ludolf Krehl Prize (dissertation prize) of the Southwest German Society for Internal Medicine |
1984 - 1986 | Scholarship, Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes |
Memberships
Alliance of Science Organisations, Germany – ex officio
Deutscher Zukunftspreis (Board of Trustees) – ex officio
Foundation Werner-von-Siemens-Ring (Board of Trustees) – ex officio
German Academic Scholarship Foundation (Board of Trustees) – ex officio
German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina
German Society for Parasitology
German Society for Tropical Medicine and Global Health
German Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Humboldt Foundation (Vice President) – ex officio
Holtzbrinck Prize for Science Journalism (Board of Judges) – ex officio
Paul Ehrlich Society (Honorary President) – ex officio
Science Europe (General Assembly) – ex officio
Society for Free Radical Research International
Stifterverband für die Deutsche Wissenschaft (Member of the Executive Board) – ex officio
STS forum (Council Member, Board Member) – ad personam
Thyssen Foundation (Scientific Advisory Board) – ad personam
WiD – Wissenschaft im Dialog (Shareholders‘ Meeting) – ex officio
Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin (Member of General Meeting) – ex officio
Publications (Selection from more than 300 Publications)
- Becker K, Savvides S, Keese M, Schirmer RH, Karplus PA (1998). Enzyme inactivation through sulfhydryl oxidation by physiologic NO-carriers. Nature Struct Biol 5: 267 - 271.
- Kanzok S, Fechner A, Bauer H, Ulschmid JK, Müller HM, Botella-Munez J, Schneuwly S, Schirmer RH, Becker K (2001). Substitution of the thioredoxin system for glutathione reductase in Drosophila melanogaster. Science 291: 643 - 646.
- Fritz-Wolf K, Becker A, Rahlfs S, Harwaldt P, Schirmer RH, Kabsch W, Becker K (2003). X-ray structure of glutathione S-transferase from the malarial parasite Plasmodium falciparum. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 100: 13821 - 13826.
- Urig S, Fritz-Wolf K, Réau R, Herold-Mende C, Tóth K, Davioud-Charvet E, Becker K (2006) Undressing of phosphine gold(I) therapeutic agents as irreversible inhibitors of human disulfide reductases. Angew Chem Int Ed Engl 45: 1881 - 1886.
- Perez-Jimenez R, Li J, Kosuri P, Sanchez-Romero I, Wiita AP, Rodriguez-Larrea D, Chueca A, Holmgren A, Miranda-Vizuete A, Becker K, Cho SH, Beckwith J, Gelhaye E, Jacquot JP, Gaucher E, Sanchez-Ruiz JM, Berne B, Fernandez JM (2009). Diversity of chemical mechanisms in thioredoxin catalysis. Nature Struct Mol Biol 16: 890 - 896.
- Koncarevic S, Rohrbach P, Deponte M, Prieto H, Yates J, Rahlfs S, Becker K (2009) Plasmodium falciparum imports the human protein peroxiredoxin 2 for peroxide detoxification. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 106: 13323 - 13328.
- Fritz-Wolf K, Kehr S, Stumpf M, Rahlfs S, Becker K (2011). Crystal structure of the human thioredoxin reductase - thioredoxin complex. Nature Commun. 2: 383.
- Wang L, Delahunty C, Fritz-Wolf K, Rahlfs S, Prieto JH, Yates III JR, Becker K (2015). Characterization of the 26S proteasome network in P. falciparum. Sci Rep 5: 17818.
- Krieg R, Jortzik E, Goetz A-A, Blandin S, Wittlin S, Elhabiri M, Rahbari M, Nuryyeva S, Voigt K, Dahse HM, Brakhage A, Beckmann S, Quack T, Grevelding CG, Pinkerton AB, Schönecker B, Burrows J, Davioud-Charvet E, Rahlfs S, Becker K (2017) Arylmethylamino steroids as antiparasitic agents. Nature Commun. 8: 14478.
- Felber J, Poczka L, Scholzen K, Zeisel L, Maier MS, Busker S, Theisen U, Brandstädter C, Becker K, Arnér ESJ, Thorn-Seshold J, Thorn-Seshold O (2022) Cyclic 5-membered disulfides are not selective substrates of thioredoxin reductase, but are opened nonspecifically by thiols. Nature Commun. 13: 1754.