Katharina Gaus (12 July 1972 – 3 March 2021) was a German-Australian immunologist and molecular microscopist. She was an NHMRC Senior Research Fellow and founding head of the Cellular Membrane Biology Lab, part of the Centre for Vascular Research at the

University of New South Wales The University of New South Wales (UNSW), also known as UNSW Sydney, is a public research university based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is one of the founding members of Group of Eight, a coalition of Australian research-intensive ...

. Gaus used new super-resolution

fluorescence microscope A fluorescence microscope is an optical microscope that uses fluorescence instead of, or in addition to, scattering, reflection, and attenuation or absorption, to study the properties of organic or inorganic substances. "Fluorescence microsc ...

s to examine the plasma membrane within intact living cells, and study cell signalling at the level of single molecules to better understand how cells "make decisions". A key discovery of Gaus and her team was how

T-cells A T cell is a type of lymphocyte. T cells are one of the important white blood cells of the immune system and play a central role in the adaptive immune response. T cells can be distinguished from other lymphocytes by the presence of a T-cell rec ...

decide to switch on the body's

immune system The immune system is a network of biological processes that protects an organism from diseases. It detects and responds to a wide variety of pathogens, from viruses to parasitic worms, as well as cancer cells and objects such as wood splinte ...

to attack diseases. Her work is of importance to the development of drugs that can work with T-cells in support of the immune system.

Education

Gaus studied physics and mathematics at the

University of Heidelberg } Heidelberg University, officially the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg, (german: Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg; la, Universitas Ruperto Carola Heidelbergensis) is a public research university in Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, ...

, Germany and a MPhil (1996) and PhD (1999) from the Institute of Biotechnology 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 ...

. While there she created a biosensor to detect protein-protein interactions and a

ligand In coordination chemistry, a ligand is an ion or molecule (functional group) that binds to a central metal atom to form a coordination complex. The bonding with the metal generally involves formal donation of one or more of the ligand's electr ...

library, useful as a diagnostic tool.

Career

Following her studies at the

, Katharina joined the Cell Biology Group at the

Heart Research Institute The Heart Research Institute (HRI) is a not-for-profit research facility, originally based in Camperdown, New South Wales, Australia and currently based in Newtown, New South Wales. Established in 1989 through a joint initiative of the National ...

Sydney, Australia Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and List of cities in Oceania by population, Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metro ...

, led by Roger Dean and Wendy Jessup. Around 2002, she moved with Wendy Jessup's group to the Centre for Vascular Research at the University of New South Wales. She received several fellowships, spending three months of 2001 at the

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Univ ...

, working with Enrico Gratton before returning to Australia to take up an

Australian Research Council The Australian Research Council (ARC) is the primary non-medical research funding agency of the Australian Government, distributing more than in grants each year. The Council was established by the ''Australian Research Council Act 2001'', ...

postdoctoral fellowship. In 2005 Gaus was awarded an Alexander von Humboldt Research Fellowship and spent six months at the Max Planck Institute for Cell Biology and Genetics in

Dresden, Germany Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label= Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth la ...

, working in the laboratory of

Kai Simons Kai Simons (born 24 May 1938) is a Finnish professor of biochemistry and cell biology and physician living and working in Germany. He introduced the concept of lipid rafts, as well as coined the term ''trans-Golgi network'' and proposed its role ...

. As of 2005, Gaus founded the Cellular Membrane Biology Lab, part of the Centre for Vascular Research at the University of New South Wales. As of 2009 she became a senior research fellow and associate professor of the

National Health and Medical Research Council The National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) is the main statutory authority of the Australian Government responsible for medical research. It was the eighth largest research funding body in the world in 2016, and NHMRC-funded rese ...

(NHMRC) in Australia. Gaus was a member of the Australian Centre for NanoMedicine, founded in 2011, which is based at the

. She was also deputy director and a chief investigator of the ARC Centre of Excellence in Advanced Molecular Imaging. Gaus was active in encouraging girls to enter scientific fields. Gaus was elected Fellow of the

Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences The Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences is an academy to promote health and medical sciences in Australia. It was established in June 2014. It cites "The Academy will serve the three purposes identified as of high priority in the 20 ...

(FAHMS) in 2015. She died on 3 March 2021 aged 48.

Awards

* 2013, Elizabeth Blackburn Fellowship – Biomedical 2013 (NHMRC Research Excellence Award) * 2013, NSW Science and Engineering Award for Excellence in Biological Sciences, from the New South Wales Government * 2012 Gottschalk Medal for outstanding research in the medical sciences, from the

Australian Academy of Science The Australian Academy of Science was founded in 1954 by a group of distinguished Australians, including Australian Fellows of the Royal Society of London. The first president was Sir Mark Oliphant. The academy is modelled after the Royal Soci ...

* 2010, Young Investigator Award from the Australia and New Zealand Society for Cell and Developmental Biology * 2005, Tall Poppy Award, encouraging young Australian scientists *2005, ARC Early Researcher Award

References

External links

Katharina Gaus
page at

Cellular Membrane Biology Lab
page at

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gaus, Katharina 1972 births 2021 deaths Australian immunologists Heidelberg University alumni Alumni of the University of Cambridge Australian women scientists Fellows of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences Academic staff of the University of New South Wales Microscopists