Research Report 2000 - MDC

Obituary
Michael Strauss
The staff of the MDC mourn the
tragic death of Michael Strauss. This
internationally renowned cell biologist
died on April 29th, 1999, aged 49,
after a severe illness. MDC not only
lost a brilliant scientist, who
combined a deep commitment with a
breadth of vision, but also a dear and
treasured colleague.
Michael Strauss was born in Berlin on
January 12th, 1950. He studied
biology at the Humboldt University,
Berlin, gaining his doctorate in 1977
and his post-doctoral lecturing
qualification (Habilitation) in 1987.
From 1981 to 1989, he led a research
group at Berlin-Buch and spent
several periods abroad carrying out
research in Great Britain and the
USA. This included work at the
Imperial Cancer Research Fund and
Royal Postgraduate Medical School
(both in London) as well as Cold
Spring Harbor Laboratory, New York
(USA).
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In 1992, Michael Strauss started a five
year period as leader of a research
group belonging to the Max Planck
Gesellschaft at the Humboldt
University, Berlin, which was based at
the MDC. In 1993, he became head of
an international research group at the
Danish Cancer Society in Copenhagen
and, in 1994, he was invited to
become Professor of Molecular Cell
Biology at the Humboldt University.
His main research interests included
the regulation of cell division, the
function of tumor-suppressor genes,
developing gene therapy for cancer
and genetically regulated conditions
as well as developing viral vectors for
delivering gene therapy. Michael
Strauss and his collaborators in
Berlin, Copenhagen and London
discovered a mechanism which
controls cell replication and which
malfunctions in virtually all cancer
cells. Using this finding, he and his
colleagues developed a new approach
to combat malignant diseases using
gene technology. He quickly
transferred this knowledge from the
laboratory bench to good
manufacturing practice: he held about
25 patents and, in 1996, he set up a
gene therapy company (HepaVec).
Michael Strauss received a number of
honours including the Fichte Prize
from the Humboldt University in 1971
and the Virchow Prize (from the GDR
Ministry of Health) in 1984. In
addition, Michael Strauss received
fellowships from the European
Molecular Biology Organization
(EMBO), the Union Internationale
Contre le Cancer (UICC) and the
Imperial Cancer Research Fund
(ICRF).
Michael Strauss was a member of
many professional societies, both at
home and abroad, including the
American Society for Gene Therapy
and the European Working Group on
Gene Transfer (EWGT). In addition,
he was a member of the Scientific
Advisory Council of the Federal
Medical Council for Somatic Gene
Therapy and chairman of the
“Medical Biotechnology” working
group of the German Society for
Chemical Instrumentation, Chemical
Techniques and Biotechnology
(DECHEMA).
Michael Strauss published over 80
research papers as well as about 30
reviews and book chapters. In 1993,
he set up the international gene
therapy symposia at Berlin-Buch and
he was involved running them ever
since; the last one took place in 1998.
Figure 12: The late Michael Strauss, research
group leader at the MDC, in his laboratory.