Regine Kahmann (born 20 October 1948 in
Staßfurt
Staßfurt (Stassfurt) () is a town in the Salzlandkreis district, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It is situated on both sides of the river Bode, approximately northeast of Aschersleben, and south of Magdeburg. Pop. (2005) 23,538.
It was one of th ...
, Saxony-Anhalt) is a German microbiologist and was Director at the
Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology
The Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology (german: Max-Planck-Institut für terrestrische Mikrobiologie, links=https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max-Planck-Institut_f%C3%BCr_terrestrische_Mikrobiologie) is a research institute for terrestr ...
in
Marburg
Marburg ( or ) is a university town in the German federal state (''Bundesland'') of Hesse, capital of the Marburg-Biedenkopf district (''Landkreis''). The town area spreads along the valley of the river Lahn and has a population of approximate ...
from 2000 to 2019.
She was made a
Foreign Member 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 knowledge, including mathematics ...
(ForMRS) in 2020.
Kahmann's early work focused on microbiology and phages. She later switched to studying
corn smut (''Ustilago maydis''), and the causes of disease in maize. Corn smut is now considered a
model organism
A model organism (often shortened to model) is a non-human species that is extensively studied to understand particular biological phenomena, with the expectation that discoveries made in the model organism will provide insight into the workin ...
for the study of biotrophic fungi.
Early life
Regine Kahmann was born in Staßfurt, Saxony-Anhalt
in 1948 to Werner and Elfriede Kahmann. Her parents were farmers in Langenweddingen, near
Magdeburg
Magdeburg (; nds, label=Low Saxon, Meideborg ) is the capital and second-largest city of the German state Saxony-Anhalt. The city is situated at the Elbe river.
Otto I, the first Holy Roman Emperor and founder of the Archdiocese of Magdebur ...
in
East Germany
East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...
. Due to land reform and political repression, her family left the German Democratic Republic in 1952, settling in Rassau, near
Uelzen
Uelzen (; officially the ''Hanseatic Town of Uelzen'', German: ''Hansestadt Uelzen'', , Low German ''Ülz’n'') is a town in northeast Lower Saxony, Germany, and capital of the county of Uelzen. It is part of the Hamburg Metropolitan Region, a ...
in Lower Saxony.
Career
After graduating from the Lessing School in Uelzen in 1967, Kahmann studied biology at the
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 ...
with a focus on microbiology until 1972.
Following her doctorate from 1972 to 1974 at 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 ...
and the
Free University of Berlin
The Free University of Berlin (, often abbreviated as FU Berlin or simply FU) is a public research university in Berlin, Germany. It is consistently ranked among Germany's best universities, with particular strengths in political science and t ...
with the theme ''The structure of SPP1 DNA after transfection of B. subtilis''.
As a postdoctoral fellow, she went to
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) is a private, non-profit institution with research programs focusing on cancer, neuroscience, plant biology, genomics, and quantitative biology.
It is one of 68 institutions supported by the Cancer Centers ...
in the US, where she became in 1976 Junior Group Leader. From 1980 to 1982 she worked as a research assistant at the
Max Planck Institute for Biochemistry in
Martinsried
Martinsried is one of Munich's two science suburbs. It is a section of Planegg municipality in the district of Munich in Bavaria, Germany.
Martinsried is best known as the location of the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry, the Max Planck Inst ...
.
In 1982 she started an independent research group at the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics in Berlin followed by appointments at the Institute of Gene-Biological Research in Berlin (1987), and professor of genetics at the Institute for Genetics and Microbiology at the
Ludwig Maximilians University
The Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (simply University of Munich or LMU; german: Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München) is a public research university in Munich, Germany. It is Germany's sixth-oldest university in continuous operatio ...
(1992). In January 2000, Kahmann became a scientific member 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. ...
and director at the
Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology
The Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology (german: Max-Planck-Institut für terrestrische Mikrobiologie, links=https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max-Planck-Institut_f%C3%BCr_terrestrische_Mikrobiologie) is a research institute for terrestr ...
in Marburg, and in April 2001 also a professor of genetics at the
Philipps University in Marburg. In 2019, she became the acting head of the Department of Organismic Interactions at the Max Planck Institute in Marburg.
Research
Kahmann works in the field of the molecular
phytopathology
Plant pathology (also phytopathology) is the scientific study of diseases in plants caused by pathogens (infectious organisms) and environmental conditions (physiological factors). Organisms that cause infectious disease include fungi, oomyc ...
- the molecular basis of plant diseases. She examines, among other things, how microbes and viruses infect cells and which genes influence these attacks.
"In her work on
phage mu
''Muvirus'' (synonyms: ''Mu-like phages'', ''Mu-like viruses'', ''Mulikevirus'') is a genus of viruses in the order ''Caudovirales'', in the family ''Myoviridae''. Bacteria serve as natural hosts, with transmission achieved through passive diffus ...
– a virus that affects a whole range of bacterial species – Regine Kahmann was able to show, among other things, that the decision as to which host can be infected is regulated by inversion of a certain section of DNA. The inversion is done by
site-specific recombination Site-specific recombination, also known as conservative site-specific recombination, is a type of genetic recombination in which DNA strand exchange takes place between segments possessing at least a certain degree of sequence homology. Enzymes kno ...
. Regine Kahmann was able to show that this process is stimulated by the bacterial host's FIS protein in addition to the actual recombinase. The elucidation of the stimulation mechanism is internationally considered a scientific masterpiece."
A major research focus in her lab is the investigation of the infection mechanism of a parasitic fungus,
corn smut (''Ustilago maydis''), which causes tumors on maize plants.
Academy memberships
* 1991
European Molecular Biology Organization
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 ...
* 1999
Bavarian Academy of Sciences
The Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities (german: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften) is an independent public institution, located in Munich. It appoints scholars whose research has contributed considerably to the increase of knowledg ...
(since 2001 as corresponding member)
* 1998
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 ...
* 2001
Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences
The Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities (german: Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften), abbreviated BBAW, is the official academic society for the natural sciences and humanities for the German states of Berlin a ...
* 2008
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 ...
* 2010 Academia Net
* 2020
Royal Society
The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...
(foreign member)
Prizes and awards
* 1993
Leibniz Prize
The Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize (german: link=no, Förderpreis für deutsche Wissenschaftler im Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz-Programm der Deutschen Forschungsgemeinschaft), in short Leibniz Prize, is awarded by the German Research Foundation to ...
of the
German Research Foundation
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 ...
* 1997
Dannie Heineman Prize of the Göttingen Academy of Sciences
* 1998
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 ...
* 1999
Bavarian Maximilian Order for Science and Art
The Bavarian Maximilian Order for Science and Art (german: Bayerischer Maximiliansorden für Wissenschaft und Kunst, links=no) was first established on 28 November 1853 by King Maximilian II von Bayern. It is awarded to acknowledge and reward exc ...
* 2011 Gregor Mendel Medal of the Leopoldina
* 2011 TUM Distinguished Affiliated Professor (honorary professor) of the
Technical University of Munich
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 ...
Selected work
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References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Kahmann, Regine
1948 births
Living people
German microbiologists
German women biologists
20th-century German biologists
21st-century German scientists
University of Göttingen alumni
Free University of Berlin alumni
Academic staff of the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich
Academic staff of the University of Marburg
Foreign Members of the Royal Society
Foreign associates of the National Academy of Sciences
Members of the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina
20th-century German women
21st-century German women
Max Planck Institute directors