Alfred "Fred" Wittinghofer (born 23 May 1943) is a German biochemist.

Education and career

RWTH Aachen University RWTH Aachen University (), also known as North Rhine-Westphalia Technical University of Aachen, Rhine-Westphalia Technical University of Aachen, Technical University of Aachen, University of Aachen, or ''Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hoch ...

he studied chemistry from 1963 with ''

Diplom A ''Diplom'' (, from grc, δίπλωμα ''diploma'') is an academic degree in the German-speaking countries Germany, Austria, and Switzerland and a similarly named degree in some other European countries including Albania, Bulgaria, Belarus ...

'' in 1968 and with doctorate ( ''Promotion'') in 1971. His doctoral work was done at RWTH Aachen University's ''Deutsches Wollforschungsinstitut'' (now called the ). He worked from 1971 to 1973 as a postdoc at the

University of North Carolina The University of North Carolina is the multi-campus public university system for the state of North Carolina. Overseeing the state's 16 public universities and the NC School of Science and Mathematics, it is commonly referred to as the UNC Sy ...

. At Heidelberg's

Max Planck Institute for Medical Research The Max Planck Institute for Medical Research in Heidelberg, Germany, is a facility of the Max Planck Society for basic medical research. Since its foundation, six Nobel Prize laureates worked at the Institute: Otto Fritz Meyerhof (Physiology), R ...

he was 1974 from 1979 a scientific assistant and 1980 from 1993 a research group leader. In 1992 he completed his

habilitation Habilitation is the highest university degree, or the procedure by which it is achieved, in many European countries. The candidate fulfills a university's set criteria of excellence in research, teaching and further education, usually including a ...

in biochemistry at the University of Heidelberg. At Dortmund's

Max Planck Institute for Molecular Physiology The Max Planck Institute of Molecular Physiology (german: Max-Planck-Institut für molekulare Physiologie) is located in Dortmund, next to the Dortmund University of Technology. It is one of 80 institutes in the Max Planck Society (Max Planck Ges ...

, he was from 1993 to 2009 director of the structural biology department and from 2009 to 2016 "Emeritus Scientific Member" of the institute. From 1994 to 2009 he was ''Honorarprofessor'' for biochemistry at the

Ruhr University Bochum The Ruhr University Bochum (, ) is a public research university located in the southern hills of the central Ruhr area, Bochum, Germany. It was founded in 1962 as the first new public university in Germany after World War II. Instruction began in ...

. Wittinghofer and colleagues examined the structure, function and mode of action of the

oncogene An oncogene is a gene that has the potential to cause cancer. In tumor cells, these genes are often mutated, or expressed at high levels.

product

Ras Ras or RAS may refer to: Arts and media * RAS Records Real Authentic Sound, a reggae record label * Rundfunk Anstalt Südtirol, a south Tyrolese public broadcasting service * Rás 1, an Icelandic radio station * Rás 2, an Icelandic radio stati ...

. (in French) He has received at least a dozen honors and awards. He was elected in 1995 a member of the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) and in 2001 a member of both

Academia Europaea The Academia Europaea is a pan-European Academy of Humanities, Letters, Law, and Sciences. The Academia was founded in 1988 as a functioning Europe-wide Academy that encompasses all fields of scholarly inquiry. It acts as co-ordinator of Europea ...

and the

German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina The German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina (german: Deutsche Akademie der Naturforscher Leopoldina – Nationale Akademie der Wissenschaften), short Leopoldina, is the national academy of Germany, and is located in Halle (Saale). Founded ...

. He was awarded in 2001 the

Louis-Jeantet Prize for Medicine Established in 1986, the Louis-Jeantet Prizes are funded by the ''Fondation Louis-Jeantet'' and awarded each year to experienced researchers who have distinguished themselves in the field of biomedical research in one of the member states of t ...

, in 2003 the

Otto Warburg Medal The Otto Warburg Medal is awarded annually by the German Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (German: ''Gesellschaft für Biochemie und Molekularbiologie'' or ''GBM'') to honour scientists who have contributed important work in the field ...

, and in 2019 the STS Honorary Medal from the Signal Transduction Society/Gesellschaft für Signaltransduktion and the ''

International Journal of Molecular Sciences The ''International Journal of Molecular Sciences'' is a peer-reviewed open access scientific journal covering research in chemistry, molecular physics, and molecular biology. It is published by MDPI and was established in 2000. The editor-in-chie ...

''.

Selected publications

* (over 1050 citations) * (over 2550 citations) * (over 1350 citations) * * * * (over 1700 citations) * (over 2200 citations) * (over 2550 citations) * * (over 1850 citations)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Wittinghofer, Alfred German biochemists RWTH Aachen University alumni Max Planck Society people Academic staff of Ruhr University Bochum Members of Academia Europaea Members of the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina 1943 births Living people Max Planck Institute directors