Jan Löwe (born 14 July 1967) is a German

molecular A molecule is a group of two or more atoms held together by attractive forces known as chemical bonds; depending on context, the term may or may not include ions which satisfy this criterion. In quantum physics, organic chemistry, and bioche ...

and structural biologist and the Director of the Medical Research Council (MRC) Laboratory of Molecular Biology (LMB) in Cambridge, UK. He became Director of the MRC-LMB in April 2018, succeeding Sir

Hugh Pelham Sir Hugh Reginald Brentnall Pelham, (born 26 August 1954) is a cell biologist who has contributed to our understanding of the body's response to rises in temperature through the synthesis of heat shock proteins. He served as director of the Med ...

. Löwe is known for his contributions to the current understanding of bacterial cytoskeletons. One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from the royalsociety.org website where:

Education

Löwe was awarded a Diploma in Chemistry by the

University of Hamburg The University of Hamburg (german: link=no, Universität Hamburg, also referred to as UHH) is a public research university in Hamburg, Germany. It was founded on 28 March 1919 by combining the previous General Lecture System ('' Allgemeines Vor ...

in 1992. He was then awarded his

Dr. rer. nat. ''Doctor rerum naturalium'' ( for, , Latin, doctor of natural sciences, lit. 'doctor of the things of nature'), abbreviated Dr. rer. nat., is a doctoral academic degree awarded by universities in some European countries (e.g. Germany, Austria and C ...

in 1995 by the

Technische Universität München The Technical University of Munich (TUM or TU Munich; german: Technische Universität München) is a public research university in Munich, Germany. It specializes in engineering, technology, medicine, and applied and natural sciences. Establis ...

, for his thesis work on the structure of the proteasome completed at the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry under the supervision of

Robert Huber Robert Huber (; born 20 February 1937) is a German biochemist and Nobel laureate. known for his work crystallizing an intramembrane protein important in photosynthesis and subsequently applying X-ray crystallography to elucidate the protein's st ...

Career and research

Löwe worked briefly as a postdoctoral researcher at the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry, before moving to MRC-LMB in 1996 to take up an EMBO long-term fellowship to work on crystallising FtsZ, a bacterial homologue of eukaryotic tubulin, with Linda A. Amos. Löwe became a group leader at MRC-LMB in 1998 and was awarded tenure in 2002. His group has largely worked on the structural and molecular biology of prokaryotic cytoskeletons, but has also made important contributions to the current understanding of cell division and DNA partitioning in both prokaryotes and eukaryotes. Löwe became the Director of MRC-LMB in April 2018, having formerly been Deputy Director (2016-18) and Joint Head of the Structural Studies Division at the institute (2010-18). In 2018, the title of Honorary Professor of Structural and Molecular Microbiology at the

University of Cambridge , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

was conferred on him.

Awards and honours

*1996 Otto-Hahn Medal of the

Max Planck Society The Max Planck Society for the Advancement of Science (german: Max-Planck-Gesellschaft zur Förderung der Wissenschaften e. V.; abbreviated MPG) is a formally independent non-governmental and non-profit association of German research institutes. ...

*2002 Leverhulme Prize for Biochemistry *2004 Member,

European Molecular Biology Organisation The European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) is a professional, non-profit organization of more than 1,800 life scientists. Its goal is to promote research in life science and enable international exchange between scientists. It co-funds cour ...

(EMBO) *2007

EMBO Gold Medal The EMBO Gold Medal is an annual award of the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) given to young scientists for outstanding contributions to the life sciences in Europe. Laureates receive a medal and €10,000 and are invited to rec ...

*2008 Elected a

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the judges of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...

(FRS) *2011 Wellcome Trust Senior Investigator Award *2012 Fellow at

Darwin College, Cambridge Darwin College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded on 28 July 1964, Darwin was Cambridge University's first graduate-only college, and also the first to admit both men and women. The college is named after one of the ...

*2013 Fellow of the

German 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 ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Löwe, Jan British medical researchers Fellows of Darwin College, Cambridge Fellows of the Royal Society Members of the European Molecular Biology Organization Living people 1967 births German molecular biologists