Karin Mölling (often cited in English as Moelling; born 7 April 1943 in Meldorf,

Dithmarschen Dithmarschen (, Northern Low Saxon, Low Saxon: ; archaic English: ''Ditmarsh''; da, Ditmarsken; la, label=Medieval Latin, Tedmarsgo) is a district in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is bounded by (from the north and clockwise) the districts of ...

, Germany) is a German

virologist Virology is the scientific study of biological viruses. It is a subfield of microbiology that focuses on their detection, structure, classification and evolution, their methods of infection and exploitation of host cells for reproduction, their ...

whose research focused on

retrovirus A retrovirus is a type of virus that inserts a DNA copy of its RNA genome into the DNA of a host cell that it invades, thus changing the genome of that cell. Once inside the host cell's cytoplasm, the virus uses its own reverse transcriptase ...

es, particularly human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). She was a full professor and director of the Institute of Medical Virology at the University of Zurich from 1993 to 2008. She is retired but retains affiliations with the University of Zurich and with the

Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics The Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics is a research institute for molecular genetics based in Berlin, Germany. It is part of the Max Planck Institute network of the Max Planck Society for the Advancement of Science. Departments and rese ...

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

Education and career

Mölling was born in Meldorf,

, Germany in 1943. She received a Diploma in

nuclear physics Nuclear physics is the field of physics that studies atomic nuclei and their constituents and interactions, in addition to the study of other forms of nuclear matter. Nuclear physics should not be confused with atomic physics, which studies the ...

in 1968 from the University of Kiel. After a fellowship for training in molecular biology at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

, she returned to Germany for her PhD at the Max Planck Institute for Virus Research (now the

Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology The Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology Tübingen was located in Tübingen, Germany; it was founded as Max Planck Institute for Virus Research in 1954 as an offshoot of the Tübingen-based Max Planck Institute for Biology. From 1984 to 2 ...

), awarded in 1972. She was a

postdoctoral fellow A postdoctoral fellow, postdoctoral researcher, or simply postdoc, is a person professionally conducting research after the completion of their doctoral studies (typically a PhD). The ultimate goal of a postdoctoral research position is to p ...

at the

Robert Koch Institute The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) is a German federal government agency and research institute responsible for disease control and prevention. It is located in Berlin and Wernigerode. As an upper federal agency, it is subordinate to the Federal ...

and later at the

University of Giessen University of Giessen, official name Justus Liebig University Giessen (german: Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen), is a large public research university in Giessen, Hesse, Germany. It is named after its most famous faculty member, Justus von L ...

, where she took her

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 biophysics in 1977. She began her independent research career as a group leader at the

in 1976 and remained there till 1993, becoming a Heisenberg Fellow in 1981 and a permanent group leader in 1983. In 1993 she became a full professor and director of the Institute of Medical Virology at the University of Zurich and held these positions until 2008. She continued as a group leader at Zurich and a Fellow at MPI until 2011. As of 2014 she retained affiliations with both institutions. During her academic career Mölling also co-founded several

biotechnology Biotechnology is the integration of natural sciences and engineering sciences in order to achieve the application of organisms, cells, parts thereof and molecular analogues for products and services. The term ''biotechnology'' was first used b ...

companies, was involved in a

clinical trial Clinical trials are prospective biomedical or behavioral research studies on human participants designed to answer specific questions about biomedical or behavioral interventions, including new treatments (such as novel vaccines, drugs, dietar ...

for an HIV vaccine candidate, and supervised around 100

master's A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

and PhD students.

Research

Mölling's research interests focused primarily on

es, particular human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), on which she began work as a graduate student. She is well known for her discovery of the ribonuclease H activity of

reverse transcriptase A reverse transcriptase (RT) is an enzyme used to generate complementary DNA (cDNA) from an RNA template, a process termed reverse transcription. Reverse transcriptases are used by viruses such as HIV and hepatitis B to replicate their genomes, ...

, which is required for viral proliferation. Her work in this area led to the development of a DNA-based candidate HIV vaccine for which she led

s. She has also worked on oncogenes, leading to the isolation of the

Myc ''Myc'' is a family of regulator genes and proto-oncogenes that code for transcription factors. The ''Myc'' family consists of three related human genes: ''c-myc'' (MYC), ''l-myc'' (MYCL), and ''n-myc'' (MYCN). ''c-myc'' (also sometimes referre ...

transcription factor In molecular biology, a transcription factor (TF) (or sequence-specific DNA-binding factor) is a protein that controls the rate of transcription of genetic information from DNA to messenger RNA, by binding to a specific DNA sequence. The fu ...

protein Proteins are large biomolecules and macromolecules that comprise one or more long chains of amino acid residues. Proteins perform a vast array of functions within organisms, including catalysing metabolic reactions, DNA replication, respo ...

; on virus diagnostics; and more recently on the evolutionary history of retroviruses and retrotransposons.

Awards and honors

Mölling has received a number of academic recognitions during her career: * 1981: Vincenz Czerny Prize * 1982: Richtzenhain Prize * 1983: Member, European Molecular Biology Organization * 1986: Meyenburg Prize * 1987:

Aronson Prize The Aronson Prize (german: Aronson-Preis) is a prize awarded for achievements in microbiology and immunology. It was established by the will of the pediatrician and bacteriologist Hans Aronson and has been awarded since 1921. Aronson bequeathed ...

* 1992: Ansmann Prize * 2008: SwissAward * 2008-09: Fellow,

Berlin Institute for Advanced Study The Institute for Advanced Study in Berlin (german: Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin) is an interdisciplinary institute founded in 1981 in Grunewald, Berlin, Germany, dedicated to research projects in the natural and social sciences. It is modeled ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Molling, Karin Women virologists German virologists Living people 1943 births Officers Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Recipients of the Order of Merit of Berlin