Hartmut Wekerle

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

Hartmut Wekerle
Born (1944-05-30) 30 May 1944
Germany
Alma materAlbert Ludwig University of Freiburg
Occupation(s)Medical Scientist, Neurobiologist
SpouseRosa-Laura Oropeza Wekerle

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 (now Max Planck Institute for Biological Intelligence[1]). After receiving the Emeritus status at the institute in 2012, he continued his research for another five years as a Senior Professorship funded by the Hertie Foundation.

Scientific focus

Hartmut Wekerle's work has been devoted to the study of cellular immune responses and mechanisms in the course of multiple sclerosis and other inflammatory diseases in the nervous system.

In particular, his research contributed to the following discoveries:

  • Detection of autoreactive T cell clones in the healthy immune system and their activation in autoimmune encephalomyelitis[2]
  • Immunocompetence of central nervous glial cells[3]
  • Regulatory CD8 T cells in experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis[4]
  • Regulation of CNS immune reactivity by active neurons[5]
  • Migration pathways of autoimmune T cells to the central nervous system[6]
  • Activation of CNS autoimmune T cells by intestinal microbiota[7]
  • Activation of CNS autoimmune T cells by MS derived microbiota[8]

Awards (Selection)
  • Ernst Jung Prize for Medicine (1982)[9]
  • K-J. Zülch Prize (1999, awarded by the Max Planck Society, now known as The International Prize for Translational Neuroscience of the Gertrud Reemtsma Foundation)[10]
  • Charcot Award (International Federation of MS Societies, 2001)[11]
  • Louis D Award (Grand Prix des Academies des Sciences, Paris, 2002)[12]
  • Betty and David Koetser Award (Zurich, 2005)[13]
  • Jacob Henle Medal (University of Goettingen, 2017)[14]

Honorary Degrees and Memberships

References
  1. "New Max Planck Institute for Biological Intelligence, in foundation". Retrieved 2022-04-20.
  2. Wekerle, H; Cohen, IR; Feldman, M (December 1973). "Thymus reticulum cell cultures confer T cell properties on spleen cells from thymus-deprived animals". Eur J Immunol. 3 (12): 745–8. doi:10.1002/eji.1830031202. PMID 4544457. S2CID 44482733.
  3. Fontana, A; Fierz, W; Wekerle, H (1984). "Astrocytes present myelin basic protein to encephalitogenic T-cell lines". Nature. 307 (5948): 273–6. Bibcode:1984Natur.307..273F. doi:10.1038/307273a0. PMID 6198590. S2CID 2468077.
  4. Sun, D; Qin, Y; Chluba, J; Epplen, JT; Wekerle, H (April 1988). "Suppression of experimentally induced autoimmune encephalomyelitis by cytolytic T-T cell interactions". Nature. 332 (6167): 843–5. Bibcode:1988Natur.332..843S. doi:10.1038/332843a0. PMID 2965794. S2CID 4307955.
  5. Neumann, H; Cavalié, A; Jenne, DE; Wekerle, H (July 1995). "Induction of MHC class I genes in neurons". Science. 269 (5223): 549–52. Bibcode:1995Sci...269..549N. doi:10.1126/science.7624779. PMID 7624779.
  6. Bartholomäus, I; Kawakami, N; Odoardi, F; Schläger, C; Miljkovic, D; Ellwart, JW; Klinkert, WE; Flügel-Koch, C; Issekutz, TB; Wekerle, H; Flügel, A (November 2009). "Effector T cell interactions with meningeal vascular structures in nascent autoimmune CNS lesions". Nature. 462 (7269): 94–8. Bibcode:2009Natur.462...94B. doi:10.1038/nature08478. PMID 19829296. S2CID 4373646.
  7. Berer, K; Mues, M; Koutrolos, M; Rasbi, ZA; Boziki, M; Johner, C; Wekerle, H; Krishnamoorthy, G (October 2011). "Commensal microbiota and myelin autoantigen cooperate to trigger autoimmune demyelination". Nature. 479 (7374): 538–41. Bibcode:2011Natur.479..538B. doi:10.1038/nature10554. PMID 22031325. S2CID 12678288.
  8. Berer, K; Gerdes, LA; Cekanaviciute, E; Jia, X; Xiao, L; Xia, Z; Liu, C; Klotz, L; Stauffer, U; Baranzini, SE; Kümpfel, T; Hohlfeld, R; Krishnamoorthy, G; Wekerle, H (October 2017). "Gut microbiota from multiple sclerosis patients enables spontaneous autoimmune encephalomyelitis in mice". Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 114 (40): 10719–10724. Bibcode:2017PNAS..11410719B. doi:10.1073/pnas.1711233114. PMC 5635914. PMID 28893994.
  9. "Preisträger 1976 bis 2019". Jung-Stiftung für Wissenschaft und Forschung. Retrieved 2022-05-02.
  10. "Auszeichnung für neurologische Grundlagenforschung". Max-Planck-Gesellschaft. Retrieved 2022-05-02.
  11. "Charcot Award winners". Multiple Sclerosis International Federation. Retrieved 2022-05-02.
  12. "Fondation Louis D." l'Institut de France. 25 March 2013. Retrieved 2022-05-02.
  13. "Former Awardees". Betty & David Koetser Foundation for Brain Research. Retrieved 2022-05-02.
  14. "Jacob-Henle-Medaille". Universitätsmedizin Göttingen. Retrieved 2022-05-02.
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