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Burghardt Wittig

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Burghardt Wittig (born 1947 in Celle, Germany) is the chairman of MolBio2Math and a professor of biochemistry and molecular biology at Freie Universitaet Berlin in Berlin (FUB), Germany.[1] His research focuses on the areas of gene regulation, DNA structures induced by torsional strain, chromatin structure, G-protein-mediated signal transduction, as well as therapeutic applications of genetic research and DNA-based vaccines. His research has been published in numerous leading scientific journals, including Cell, Nature, PNAS, and Science.

Early life

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Wittig was born in Celle, Germany, where he attended the classical "Gymnasium Ernestinum". He graduated by the German Abitur in fall 1966, followed by two years of service in the German military.[1]

Career and Research

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Wittig enrolled at Freie Universitaet Berlin in 1968 to study medicine. While attending medical school, he also received training as an engineer specialised in hearing aids (audiologist) and graduated by the German Gesellenpruefung. During his time as a medical student at Freie Universitaet Berlin, Wittig joined laboratories at the Institute of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry and at the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics to conduct the experiments for his MD thesis. He was principally mentored by Hubert Gottschling but received further advice from V.A. Erdmann, O. Pongs, H.-J. Risse, H. Tiedemann and H.G. Wittmann as well. Having concluded his medical studies in 1975, Wittig successfully defended his thesis on "Purification and Characterisation of the Four Lysine-Specific Transfer Ribonucleic Acids from Chicken Embryos" (German: Reinigung und Charakterisierung der vier lysinspezifischen Transfer-Ribonukleinsäuren aus Hühnerembyronen) in 1976. He stayed at Freie Universitaet as a postdoc until 1978, and as an assistant professor from 1978 to 1987.[1]

From 1976 to 1986, Wittig attended a variety of physics courses in addition to his principal work as a researcher. These classes led him as a visiting student to Technische Universitaet Berlin, California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He received no official degree for these courses.[1]

In 1980, Wittig habilitated for "Biochemistry and Molecular Biology" and became thus formally eligible for a full professorship in Germany. For the 1982/83 cycle, Wittig was awarded a Heisenberg scholarship of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft; he continued to work as a fellow of the programme until 1989. During this time, he spent time at the labs of Edward Trifonov at the Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, and Koki Horikoshi, at Riken.[1]

From 1984 to 1986, Wittig worked as a visiting professor at Alexander Rich's lab at MIT, where he also cooperated with Alexander Varshavsky. Wittig would later describe these years as "the most career-shaping of [his] life".[2]

In 1987, Freie Universitaet Berlin awarded Wittig an extraordinary professorship. He continued to work as a visiting professor at Alexander Rich's lab until 1989, when he became a Schering professor (S-C4, full tenure) at Freie Universitaet Berlin. In 1988, he became the fully tenured founding chair and department head of Molecular Biology and Bioinformatics at Freie Universitaet's Institute of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry. After a change of the relevant laws of the state of Berlin merged parts of Freie Universitaet and Humboldt Universitaet into the Charité – Universitaetsmedizin, Wittig became director of its newly founded Institute of Molecular Biology and Bioinformatics.[1]

Beginning in 1994, Wittig focused his research on the design, development, and clinical proof-of-concept of covalently closed DNA constructs for the treatment of cancer and for DNA-vaccines against infectious diseases.[1] Two classes of DNA-molecules evolved through theoretical and experimental selection processes and became key technologies; MIDGE (minimalistic, immunogenically defined gene expression), and dSLIM for DNA-based immunomodulation.[3]

Guided by the goal of facilitating the independent transition from basic research into clinical DNA-based medicines, Wittig founded Mologen AG in 1998. The firm had their IPO at the German stock exchange in the same year.[4] He served as Mologen AG's CEO until 2007, while continuing to work as a full professor in a private-public-partnership.

In 2010, Wittig's institute returned to Freie Universitaet Berlin as a non-profit foundation with Freie Universitaet as the trustee. He served as the chairman of this newly created Foundation Institute of Molecular Biology and Bioinformatics until 2017.

In late 2019, Wittig founded MolBio2Math, a non-profit foundation under the trusteeship of the Gentechnologiestiftung - Dr. Georg und Ingeburg Scheel Stiftung, of which he is currently the chairman[5]

Selected publications

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  • Wittig, B; Reuter, S; Gottschling, H (1973). "Purification of the four lysine specific transfer ribonucleic acids from chick embryos". Biochim. Biophys. Acta. 331 (2): 221–230. doi:10.1016/0005-2787(73)90435-8. PMID 4774407.
  • Allfrey VG, Arnott S, Bradbury EM, Bayev A, Chambon P, Crick FHC, Felsenfeld G, Mirzabekov AT, Noll M, Stern H, van Holde KE, Wittig B, Zachau HG, and Zweidler A (1976) „The Structure of Chromatin“ in: Organization and expression of chromosomes: Dahlem Konferenzen Life Sciences Research Report, 4; Allfrey AG, Bautz EKF, McCarthy BJ, Schimke RT, Tissieres A (Eds.) pp. 19–27; ISBN 3820012052 / ISBN 9783820012057, Abakon Verlagsgesellschaft, Berlin.
  • Wittig, B; Wittig, S (1979). "A phase relationship associates tRNA structural gene sequences with nucleosome cores". Cell. 18 (4): 1173–1183. doi:10.1016/0092-8674(79)90230-7. PMID 519765. S2CID 8811309.
  • Wittig, B; Wittig, S (1982). "Function of a tRNA gene promoter depends on nucleosome position". Nature. 297 (5861): 31–38. Bibcode:1982Natur.297...31W. doi:10.1038/297031a0. PMID 7070532. S2CID 4247235.
  • Wittig, B; Dorbic, T; Rich, A (1991). ""Transcription is associated with Z-DNA formation in metabolically active, permeabilized mammalian cell nuclei"(PDF)". Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA. 88 (6): 2259–2263. doi:10.1073/pnas.88.6.2259. PMC 51210. PMID 2006166.
  • Kleuss, C; Hescheler, J; Ewel, C; Rosenthal, W; Schultz, G; Wittig, B (1991). "Assignment of G-protein subtypes to specific receptors inducing inhibition of calcium currents". Nature. 353 (6339): 43–48. Bibcode:1991Natur.353...43K. doi:10.1038/353043a0. PMID 1679199. S2CID 4238414.

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g "Burghardt Wittig". www.fu-berlin.de. 2012-06-04. Retrieved 2018-07-09.
  2. ^ Zhang, Shuguang; Wittig, Burghardt (2015). "Alexander Rich 1924–2015". Nature Biotechnology. 33 (6): 593–598. doi:10.1038/nbt.3262. ISSN 1087-0156. PMID 26057974. S2CID 562909.
  3. ^ "dSLIMming the immune system". BioCentury. Retrieved 2018-07-09.
  4. ^ "Biotech & Pharma". Cluster Gesundheitswirtschaft Berlin-Brandenburg (in German). Retrieved 2018-07-09.
  5. ^ "– Researchers – Molecular Biology & Integral Biomathics". molbio2math.org. Retrieved 2021-06-12.
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