Peter Gruss (born 28 June 1949) is a German
developmental biologist
Developmental biology is the study of the process by which animals and plants grow and develop. Developmental biology also encompasses the biology of regeneration, asexual reproduction, metamorphosis, and the growth and differentiation of stem c ...
, president of the
Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology
The is a private, interdisciplinary graduate school located in Onna, Okinawa Prefecture, Japan. The school offers a 5-year PhD program in Science. Over half of the faculty and students are recruited from outside Japan, and all education and r ...
, and the former president of the
Max-Planck-Gesellschaft
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. ...
(having been elected for the term from 2002 to 2008 and reelected for 2008–2014).
Gruss's research has generally covered the topic of
control mechanisms in the
development
Development or developing may refer to:
Arts
*Development hell, when a project is stuck in development
*Filmmaking, development phase, including finance and budgeting
*Development (music), the process thematic material is reshaped
* Photograph ...
of
mammal
Mammals () are a group of vertebrate animals constituting the class Mammalia (), characterized by the presence of mammary glands which in females produce milk for feeding (nursing) their young, a neocortex (a region of the brain), fur or ...
s, especially in the development of the
nervous system
In biology, the nervous system is the highly complex part of an animal that coordinates its actions and sensory information by transmitting signals to and from different parts of its body. The nervous system detects environmental changes th ...
. He has been able to produce
insulin
Insulin (, from Latin ''insula'', 'island') is a peptide hormone produced by beta cells of the pancreatic islets encoded in humans by the ''INS'' gene. It is considered to be the main anabolic hormone of the body. It regulates the metabolism o ...
using
stem cell
In multicellular organisms, stem cells are undifferentiated or partially differentiated cells that can differentiate into various types of cells and proliferate indefinitely to produce more of the same stem cell. They are the earliest type o ...
s.
Biography
Gruss grew up in the town of Alsfeld in the German state of Hesse. After gaining his university-entrance qualification (''Abitur''), he embarked on a degree in biology at
Darmstadt University of Technology
Darmstadt () is a city in the state of Hesse in Germany, located in the southern part of the Rhine-Main-Area (Frankfurt Metropolitan Region). Darmstadt has around 160,000 inhabitants, making it the fourth largest city in the state of Hesse a ...
in 1968, graduating from the Institute of Microbiology in 1973. From 1974 to 1977, Peter Gruss worked on his Ph.D. on the subject of a tumor virus at the Institute for Virus Research at the
German Cancer Research Center
The German Cancer Research Center (known as the Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum or simply DKFZ in German) is a national cancer research center based in Heidelberg, Germany. It is a member of the Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres, ...
(DKFZ) in Heidelberg. He then spent a year as an assistant at the German Cancer Research Center. In 1978, he went to the US as a post doc in receipt of a fellowship grant to continue studying tumor viruses at the Cancer Institute of the
National Institutes of Health
The National Institutes of Health, commonly referred to as NIH (with each letter pronounced individually), is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and public health research. It was founded in the late ...
(NIH) in Bethesda/Maryland.
From 1982 to 1986, Gruss was a professor at the University of Heidelberg's Institute of Microbiology. He was on the board of directors of the university's molecular biology institute, the ZMBH, from 1983. During this time, he organised several international molecular biology symposia. In 1986, Gruss was appointed a scientific member and director of the Department of Molecular Cell Biology at the
Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry
The Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry (german: Max-Planck-Institut für biophysikalische Chemie), also known as the Karl-Friedrich Bonhoeffer Institute (german: Karl-Friedrich-Bonhoeffer-Institut), was a research institute of the Ma ...
in Göttingen.
He is honorary professor at
University of Göttingen
The University of Göttingen, officially the Georg August University of Göttingen, (german: Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, known informally as Georgia Augusta) is a public research university in the city of Göttingen, Germany. Founded ...
.
He is a member of the board at Deutsche Venture Capital, and chairman of DeveloGen.
In early 2015, Gruss has begun to develop the "Siemens Technology & Innovation Council" (STIC), which is an advisory board intended discuss technologies and innovations that will play a significant role for Siemens over the next ten years and beyond. Gruss chairs the council and decides on its orientation.
Scientific focus
Gruss's work focused on gene regulation processes. He was particularly interested in the genetic and cellular-biological building blocks that switch genetic programmes on and off in tumour viruses and in the course of embryonic development. In experiments on mice, he successfully identified significant controlling genes (known as Pax genes) which regulate the development of various organs. A study of the pancreas which he conducted enabled him to detect genes involved in the development of insulin-producing islets of Langerhans. This also provided the basis for differentiating stem cells in insulin-producing cells.
Work as president of the Max Planck Society
Upon taking office, Gruss was regarded by the press as an "American-style man of action" and an "unassuming high flyer".
In his inaugural speech, Gruss focused on the financial scope for science: he called for the introduction of a collective bargaining law specifically for the field of science to enable Germany to attract the world's best scientists. He also spoke out in favour of a reliable financial framework: "Only adequate rates of increase – predefined for a lengthy period of time – for the budget of the MPS can guarantee planning security". The institutes were faced with potentially having to make cuts in their budgets after the Society's budget had not been raised as much as requested in past years.
Gruss pointed out on numerous occasions that the appointment of directors at the Max Planck Society involved competing with some of the world's leading research institutions: "Yet we at Max Planck are not competing with the average – we are competing with the Harvards, the Cambridges and ETH Zurichs of this world". He went on to say that Germany was not internationally competitive when it came to pay, but that the Max Planck Society was largely able to offset this disadvantage due to the support it enjoyed from the
Max Planck Foundation and thanks to its world-renowned planning security. A first step towards improving the financial conditions for top scientists from overseas was the Freedom of Science Initiative of the German Government, which has offered non-university research institutions new financial freedoms since 2009.
During Gruss's term in office, numerous institutes were reorganised or newly established: The MPI for Research on Collective Goods and the MPI for Ornithology had their status raised from research group to institute; the MPI for History was reorganised to become the MPI for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity, while the MPI for Biology of Ageing and the MPI for the Science of Light were newly established. The
Max Planck Florida Institute marks the first institute of the Max Planck Society to be established outside of Europe; it is funded by the State of Florida and the local county. Furthermore, the MPI for Metals Research was converted to the MPI for Intelligent Systems and a sub-section of the institute was newly established at Tübingen.
The Lead Discovery Center was founded as a new subsidiary in Dortmund in 2008 to improve the technology transfer of newly developed pharmaceutical drugs.
The Society's international networking is particularly successful: After the publication of news on the foundation of the Florida Institute, which came to be seen as a "model", the German news magazine ''
Der Spiegel
''Der Spiegel'' (, lit. ''"The Mirror"'') is a German weekly news magazine published in Hamburg. With a weekly circulation of 695,100 copies, it was the largest such publication in Europe in 2011. It was founded in 1947 by John Seymour Chaloner ...
'' reported that the MPS had received requests from Canada and South Korea to establish institutes there. More than 40 per cent of the recently appointed Directors at the MPS are from outside of Germany, and 25 per cent of all Directors in the Max Planck Society are of non-German origin.
In an interview published by ''
Spiegel Online
''Der Spiegel (online)'' is a German news website. Before the renaming in January 2020, the website's name was ''Spiegel Online'' (short ''SPON'').
It was founded in 1994 as the online offshoot of the German news magazine, ''Der Spiegel'', wit ...
'', Gruss outlined a new strategy for establishing "Max Planck Centers" for cooperating with foreign research institutions; some of these are already in place in cities like Shanghai, Buenos Aires and New Delhi.
Technology transfer
Gruss championed the cause of transferring his findings into practical application: he co-funded the biopharmaceutical company DeveloGen AG in Göttingen (now part of
Evotec
Evotec SE is a publicly listed drug discovery and development company headquartered in Hamburg, Germany. The company operates globally, largely through external alliances with pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, academic institutions, ...
) in 1997, together with fellow developmental biologists (Max Planck Society), Wolfgang Driever (University of Freiburg) and the entrepreneur Herbert Stadler. The company concentrated on developing new treatments for metabolic and endocrinological diseases with a special focus on diabetes.
Awards and distinctions
Gruss has won various awards for his research. In 1994 he was awarded the most highly endowed prize in German science, the
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize of the
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
The German Research Foundation (german: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft ; DFG ) is a German research funding organization, which functions as a self-governing institution for the promotion of science and research in the Federal Republic of Germ ...
. In 1995 he received the prestigious
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 1999, he was honored with the German Future Prize (the Federal President's Prize for Science and Technology) for his studies in molecular biology and the potential development of therapeutic procedures which they enabled. He received this prize together with Herbert Jäckle. Gruss received the Officer's Cross of the
Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
The Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (german: Verdienstorden der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, or , BVO) is the only federal decoration of Germany. It is awarded for special achievements in political, economic, cultural, intellect ...
in 2009.
Some of his other awards are
* 1992
Feldberg Prize
The Feldberg Foundation promotes scientific exchange between German and British scientists in the field of experimental medical research. The foundation is registered in Hamburg, Germany with the secretariat based in the UK.
The pharmacologist Wi ...
* 1995
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 ...
* 1999 Science Prize of the Donors' Association for the Promotion of Science and Humanities in Germany
* 2004
Lower Saxony State Prize
The Lower Saxony State Prize (german: Niedersächsischer Staatspreis, links=no) has been awarded by the State of Lower Saxony since 2002. From 1978 to 1999 it was called the Lower Saxony Prize (german: Niedersachsenpreis, links=no). The award is pr ...
* 2017
Harnack Medal of the Max Planck Society
Memberships
Gruss is a member of various national and international research committees, among others:
*
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and ...
* Since 1996:
Göttingen Academy of Sciences
Göttingen (, , ; nds, Chöttingen) is a university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the capital of the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. At the end of 2019, the population was 118,911.
General information
The or ...
* Since 1995:
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 ...
* 1993–1997: President of the International Society of Developmental Biology
Other organisations of which he is a member are:
* 2000–2002: President of the
EMBL-Council (and German delegate from 1992 to 2000)
* 2003: Steering Committee of the "National Genome Research Network" of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research
* 2006–2008: "Council for Innovation and Growth" of the Federal Government
[Official CV at http://www.mpg.de/183920/CV_Peter_Gruss.pdf]
References
External links
Homepage of Gruss at the Max Planck Society
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gruss, Peter
1949 births
Living people
People from Alsfeld
20th-century German biologists
German microbiologists
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize winners
Max Planck Society people
Officers Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
Technische Universität Darmstadt alumni
Members of the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina
21st-century German biologists
Max Planck Institute directors