Werner Franke

Werner Wilhelm Franke (31 January 1940 – 14 November 2022) was a German biologist and a professor of cell and molecular biology at the German Cancer Research Center in Heidelberg. He was an anti-doping pioneer in Germany.

Werner Franke
Born(1940-01-31)31 January 1940
Paderborn, German Reich
Died14 November 2022(2022-11-14) (aged 82)
EducationHeidelberg University (PhD)
Occupations
Known forCytoskeleton, doping in sport
SpouseBrigitte Berendonk
Awards
Scientific career
Institutions

Life

Franke was born in Paderborn on 31 January 1940.[2] After completing high school (Abitur at Gymnasium Theodorianum), he studied chemistry, biology and physics at the University of Heidelberg.[1] Following completion of his doctorate (Heidelberg) and habilitation (Freiburg) he became a university professor in Heidelberg and, at the same time, became the head of a department at the German Cancer Research Center.[1] In 1982, Franke became the president of the European Cell Biology Organization (ECBO), a post he held until 1990.[1] His main research field was the molecular characterization of the cytoskeleton in normal and transformed cells.[3] He was also a doping expert.[4]

Franke died on 14 November 2022 from an intracerebral hemorrhage, at age 82.[5][4]

Drug abuse in sports

Franke is considered to have been a leading expert in performance-enhancing drugs and one of the most ardent critics of drug abuse in sports. Together with his wife, Brigitte Berendonk, once an Olympic discus thrower and shot putter, he fought against drug abuse in sports. He assisted his wife in researching the 1991 book Doping: From Research to Deceit, uncovering the systematic use of doping by East German athletes.[6]

Franke defended cyclist Danilo Hondo after the banned substance Carphedon was found in his blood during the 2005 Vuelta a Murcia.[7][8] Franke argued that the amount found in his blood was "laughably small" and that "you can only get this medication through certain channels in Russia or China, where it is used by the military and the space flight programs."[9]

During an interview on 3 August 2006 with German regional television channel rheinmaintv, Franke claimed that cyclist Jan Ullrich purchased about €35,000 worth of doping products a year to Eufemiano Fuentes based on documents uncovered in the Operación Puerto doping case.[10][11] A German court imposed a gag order on Franke after it found there was not enough evidence to link Ullrich to doping.[12] However, that case returned to court with DNA analysis linking Ullrich to nine bags of blood seized in the Puerto case,[13][14][15] and eventually after four years, Franke won the case.[5]

Awards

Memberships

Works

Cell biology

Franke is author and co-author of c. 660 original articles in the field of cell and molecular biology.[1] As of 2022, his h-index is 158, according to Google scholar.[18]

  • Moll, Roland; Franke, Werner W.; Schiller, Dorothea L.; Geiger, Benjamin; Krepler, Reinhard (1982). "The catalog of human cytokeratins: Patterns of expression in normal epithelia, tumors and cultured cells". Cell. Elsevier BV. 31 (1): 11–24. doi:10.1016/0092-8674(82)90400-7. ISSN 0092-8674. PMID 6186379. S2CID 33701361.
  • Wiedenmann, Bertram; Franke, Werner W. (1985). "Identification and localization of synaptophysin, an integral membrane glycoprotein of Mr 38,000 characteristic of presynaptic vesicles". Cell. Elsevier BV. 41 (3): 1017–1028. doi:10.1016/s0092-8674(85)80082-9. ISSN 0092-8674. PMID 3924408. S2CID 27796276.
  • Franke, W W; Schmid, E; Osborn, M; Weber, K (1978). "Different intermediate-sized filaments distinguished by immunofluorescence microscopy". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 75 (10): 5034–5038. Bibcode:1978PNAS...75.5034F. doi:10.1073/pnas.75.10.5034. ISSN 0027-8424. PMC 336257. PMID 368806.

Doping

See also

References
  1. CV Franke, Academia Europaea, December 2012.
  2. "Kurzbiographie Werner Franke: Wissenschaftler und Aufklärer". FAZ.NET (in German). 16 September 2005. Retrieved 15 November 2022.
  3. Werner Franke – Zellbiologe und Aufklärer, profile at BioPro. German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), 2007.
  4. "Anti-Doping-Kämpfer Werner Franke gestorben". Hamburger Abendblatt (in German). 15 November 2022. Retrieved 15 November 2022.
  5. Zeitung, Süddeutsche (15 November 2022). "Provokant und kompromisslos: Werner Franke ist tot". Süddeutsche.de (in German). Retrieved 15 November 2022.
  6. "Allgemein – Trauer um Doping-Experten Werner Franke". www.ran.de (in German). 15 November 2022. Retrieved 15 November 2022.
  7. "Rückendeckung: "Anti-Doping-Papst" wittert Unrecht im Fall Hondo". RP ONLINE (in German). 4 November 2005. Retrieved 15 November 2022.
  8. Burkhardt, Markus (15 November 2011). "Dopingfahnder Franke kämpft für gesperrten Hondo". Die Welt (in German). Retrieved 15 November 2022.
  9. "German doping expert defends Hondo". 5 November 2005. Retrieved 30 July 2007.
  10. "Ullrich 'spent 35,000 euros' in a year on drugs claims expert". 3 August 2006. Archived from the original on 11 March 2007. Retrieved 30 July 2007.
  11. Hövel, Jörg Auf dem (2 November 2007). "Jan Ullrich gegen den Dopingexperten Werner Franke". Telepolis (in German). Retrieved 15 November 2022.
  12. "RAD: Franke unterliegt Ullrich vor Gericht". Die Welt (in German). 15 November 2011. Retrieved 15 November 2022.
  13. ""Muss ein Vampir gewesen sein"". stern.de (in German). 3 April 2007. Retrieved 15 November 2022.
  14. "Radsport: Ullrich droht neues Verfahren". Der Spiegel (in German). 14 August 2010. Retrieved 15 November 2022.
  15. "Radsport: Ullrich verliert Klage gegen Dopingjäger". Der Spiegel (in German). 13 August 2010. Retrieved 15 November 2022.
  16. "Dopingaufklärer Werner Franke ist tot". Der Spiegel (in German). 15 November 2022. Retrieved 15 November 2022.
  17. "Unsere Mitglieder". Heidelberger Akademie der Wissenschaften (in German). Retrieved 15 November 2022.
  18. Werner Franke publications indexed by Google Scholar

Further reading
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