Hans Robert Schöler (born 30 January 1953) is a molecular biologist and stem cell researcher. He is director at the

Max Planck Institute for Molecular Biomedicine The Max Planck Institute for Molecular Biomedicine was founded on 1 April 2001 in Münster, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is part of the Max Planck Society. The current managing director is Prof. Sara Wickström. History The Institute ...

Münster Münster (; ) is an independent city#Germany, independent city (''Kreisfreie Stadt'') in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is in the northern part of the state and is considered to be the cultural centre of the Westphalia region. It is also a ...

Biography

Hans Schöler was born in 1953 in Toronto, Canada, came to Germany in 1960 and grew up in

Paderborn Paderborn (; Westphalian language, Westphalian: ''Patterbuorn'', also ''Paterboärn'') is a city in eastern North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, capital of the Paderborn (district), Paderborn district. The name of the city derives from the river Pade ...

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

and

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; ; ) is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, fifth-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, and with a population of about 163,000, of which roughly a quarter consists of studen ...

. After his studies of Biology at the University of Heidelberg, Schöler conducted the research for his doctoral degree from the University of Heidelberg in 1985 at the Centre for Molecular Biology (ZMBH). After having headed a research group for Boehringer Mannheim at the Research Center Tutzing and having worked as a staff scientist at the

Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry The Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry (), also known as the Karl-Friedrich Bonhoeffer Institute (), was a research institute of the Max Planck Society, located in Göttingen, Germany. On January 1, 2022, the institute merged with ...

in Göttingen, Schöler started as head of a research group at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (

EMBL The European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) is an intergovernmental organization dedicated to molecular biology research and is supported by 29 member states, two prospect member states, and one associate member state. EMBL was created in ...

) in Heidelberg in 1991. In 1994, he obtained his habilitation at the Biological Faculty of the

Heidelberg University Heidelberg University, officially the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg (; ), is a public research university in Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Founded in 1386 on instruction of Pope Urban VI, Heidelberg is Germany's oldest unive ...

. In 1999, Hans Schöler left Germany to assume a professorship for Reproductive Physiology at the School of Veterinary Medicine

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

, USA. At the same time, he was director of the Center for Animal Transgenesis and Germ Cell Research at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA. From 2000 until 2004, Schöler held the Marion Dilley and David George Jones Chair for Reproductive Medicine. Since 2004, Hans Schöler has been director of the Department Cell and Developmental Biology

, Münster. He is professor of the Medical Faculty of the Westfälischen Wilhelms-Universität Münster and also adjunct professor of the University of Pennsylvania and the Hannover Medical School.

Research

Schöler's major research interests are the molecular biology of cells of the germline (pluripotent cells and germ cells), transcriptional regulation of genes in the mammalian germline, deciphering the molecular processes of reprogramming somatic cells after induction with transcription factors, nuclear transfer into oocytes, or fusion with pluripotent cells. Nearly 277 of Schöler's publications are listed in the i10 Index. These publications were cited over 50,000 times. His Hirsch-Index is 104 (status December 2022).

Awards

* 2008:

Robert Koch Prize The Robert Koch Medal and Award are two prizes awarded annually by the German for excellence in the biomedical sciences. These awards grew out of early attempts by German physician Robert Koch to generate funding to support his research into the ...

together with Irving Weissman and

Shinya Yamanaka is a Japanese stem cell researcher and a Nobel Prize laureate. He is a professor and the director emeritus of Center for iPS Cell (induced Pluripotent Stem Cell) Research and Application, Kyoto University; as a senior investigator at the U ...

* 2010: The Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST) inaugurated the 'Hans Schöler Stem Cell Research Center' * 2011: Kazemi Prize * 2011: Emil von Behring Lecture * 2011:

Max Delbrück Medal The Max Delbrück Medal has been awarded annually from 1992 to 2013 by the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine (German: ''Max-Delbrück-Centrum für Molekulare Medizin'' or MDC). Named after the German biophysicist Max Delbrück, it is pr ...

Memberships in professional and scientific societies or commissions

* since 1995 Member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science * since 1999 Center for Animal Transgenesis and Germ Cell Research, University of Pennsylvania * 2003-2006 Member of the Advisory Council “Biological and Genetic Technologies” of the Christian Democrat Parliamentary Party of the German Parliament * since 2004 Member of the Managing Board of the Stem Cell Network North Rhine Westphalia, Düsseldorf (Head of the Managing Board since January 2005) * since 2004 Member of the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina * since 2004 Full Professor of the Medical Faculty of the University of Münster, Germany * since 2005 Member of the North Rhine-Westphalian Academy of Sciences * since 2005 Representative Member of the Central Ethics Committee for Stem Cell Research (full member since July 2008) * since 2006 Member of the Center for Bioethics of the University of Münster, Germany * since 2010 Member of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities, Biomedical Class * since 2011 Member of the Academy of Sciences and Literature, Mainz * since 2000 Co-editor of the journal Molecular Reproduction and Development * since 2001 Co-editor of the journal Cloning and Stem Cells * since 2005 Co-editor of the journal Stem Cells * since 2006 Co-editor of the Zeitschrift für Regenerative Medizin * since 2006 Co-editor of the journal Cell Stem Cell * since 2008 Co-editor of the journal Cell * since 2009 Co-editor of the journal Stem Cell Reviews and Reports * since 2011 Co-editor of the journal Stem Cells and Development * since 2011 Co-editor of the journal The International Journal of Developmental Biology

References

External links

Homepage of the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Biomedicine

Homepage of the stem cell platform zellux.net

Homepage of the Stem Cell Network North Rhine Westphalia
{{DEFAULTSORT:Scholer, Hans 1953 births Living people Canadian emigrants to Germany Max Planck Institute directors Heidelberg University alumni Max Planck Society alumni University of Pennsylvania faculty Scientists from Toronto Stem cell researchers 20th-century German biologists 21st-century German biologists