Patrick Cramer

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Patrick Cramer
Born (1969-02-03) 3 February 1969 (age 54)
Stuttgart, West Germany
NationalityGerman
Awards Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize (2006)
Ernst Jung Prize (2009)
Louis-Jeantet Prize (2021)
Shaw Prize (2023)
Scientific career
Fields Biochemistry
Institutions
Website www.mpibpc.mpg.de/cramer

Patrick Cramer (born 3 February 1969) is a German chemist, structural biologist, and molecular systems biologist. In 2020, he was honoured to be an international member of the National Academy of Sciences. [1] He became president of the Max Planck Society in June 2023.

Contents

Life

Cramer studied chemistry at the Universities of Stuttgart and Heidelberg (Germany) from 1989 until 1995. [2] He completed a part of his studies as ERASMUS scholar at the University of Bristol in the UK. As a research student he also worked in the lab of Sir Alan Fersht in Cambridge, UK at the MRC Laboratory for Molecular Biology (LMB) site. In 1995 until 1998 he worked as a PhD student in laboratory of Christoph W. Müller at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Grenoble, France. He obtained his PhD in natural sciences (Dr. rer. nat.) from the University of Heidelberg in 1998. [2] From 1999 until 2001 Cramer worked as postdoctoral researcher and fellow of the German Research Foundation (DFG) in the laboratory of the later Nobel Prize laureate Roger D. Kornberg at Stanford University, USA. [3]

In 2001 Patrick Cramer returned to Germany, where he obtained a tenure-track professorship for biochemistry at the Gene Center of the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (LMU) where he was later, in 2004, appointed full professor of biochemistry. Patrick Cramer headed the LMU Gene Center for 10 years, [4] from 2004 until 2013. [2] He also served as Dean of the School of Chemistry and Pharmacy from 2007 to 2009, and as Director of the Department of Biochemistry from 2010 to 2013. Cramer also was a member of the University Research Board from 2007 to 2013 and speaker of the research network grant SFB464 of the German Research Council (DFG).

On 1 January 2014 Patrick Cramer was appointed Director at the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry in Göttingen, Germany. [2] [5]

From 2016 to 2022 he was a member of the Editorial Board for Cell . [6]

From 22 June 2023, he has served as president of the Max Planck Society. [7]

Achievements

Patrick Cramer conducts basic research as the head of the Department of Molecular Biology [8] at the Max Planck Institute in Göttingen. He also works as a science manager and an honorary professor at the University of Göttingen. During his postdoctoral research with Roger Kornberg, Cramer determined the atomic, three-dimensional structure of RNA polymerase II, one of the biggest enzymes in the cell nucleus. This work played a decisive role when the Nobel Prize in chemistry was awarded to Roger Kornberg in 2006 for studies of the molecular basis of eukaryotic transcription. [9]

The laboratory of Patrick Cramer investigates the molecular mechanisms and systemic principles of gene transcription in eukaryotic cells. The laboratory uses integrated structural biology methods, including X-ray crystallography, cryo-electron microscopy, and biochemical tools. The Cramer laboratory also uses functional genomics and computational biology approaches to study the principles of transcription in living cells. [8]

The group of Patrick Cramer created the first molecular movie of transcription initiation and elongation. [10] Moreover, Patrick Cramer developed methods to analyze fundamental aspects of RNA metabolism in cells by integrating aspects of both molecular and systems biology. His long-term goal is to understand the expression and the regulation of the genome. The laboratory thus pioneers an approach that combines structural and genome-wide methods and may be referred to as molecular systems biology.

In April 2020, Dr Cramer's team at the Max Planck Institute of Biophysical Chemistry created the first "3D structure of the corona polymerase" [11] for the COVID-19 virus. Their model will allow researchers "to investigate how antiviral drugs such as remdesivir – which blocks the polymerase – work, and to search for new inhibitory substances." [11]

Patrick Cramer also commits himself to the further development of life sciences in Germany and Europe. He was one of the founders of the national cluster of excellence "Center for Integrated Protein Science (CIPSM)" and initiated the construction of the new research building, the "Munich Research Center for Molecular Biosystems (BioSysM)". In addition, Cramer was one of the members of the scientific and technical advisory board of the Bavarian state government and worked on bioethics within the institute TTN. Patrick Cramer also serves as an organizer of international conferences, and on several scientific committees and advisory boards. Since 2016 Cramer chairs the Council of the [[European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL). [12]

Publications

Original research articles (selection)

Review articles (selection)

Other publications (selection)

Awards and honours (selection)

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">RNA polymerase</span> Enzyme that synthesizes RNA from DNA

In molecular biology, RNA polymerase, or more specifically DNA-directed/dependent RNA polymerase (DdRP), is an enzyme that catalyzes the chemical reactions that synthesize RNA from a DNA template.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert G. Roeder</span>

Robert G. Roeder is an American biochemist. He is known as a pioneer scientist in eukaryotic transcription. He discovered three distinct nuclear RNA polymerases in 1969 and characterized many proteins involved in the regulation of transcription, including basic transcription factors and the first mammalian gene-specific activator over five decades of research. He is the recipient of the Gairdner Foundation International Award in 2000, the Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research in 2003, and the Kyoto Prize in 2021. He currently serves as Arnold and Mabel Beckman Professor and Head of the Laboratory of Biochemical and Molecular Biology at The Rockefeller University.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">RNA polymerase II</span> Protein complex that transcribes DNA

RNA polymerase II is a multiprotein complex that transcribes DNA into precursors of messenger RNA (mRNA) and most small nuclear RNA (snRNA) and microRNA. It is one of the three RNAP enzymes found in the nucleus of eukaryotic cells. A 550 kDa complex of 12 subunits, RNAP II is the most studied type of RNA polymerase. A wide range of transcription factors are required for it to bind to upstream gene promoters and begin transcription.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry</span> Research institute

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 the Max Planck Institute for Experimental Medicine in Göttingen to form the Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leibniz Prize</span> German research award

The Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize, or Leibniz Prize, is awarded by the German Research Foundation to "exceptional scientists and academics for their outstanding achievements in the field of research". Since 1986, up to ten prizes have been awarded annually to individuals or research groups working at a research institution in Germany or at a German research institution abroad. It is considered the most important research award in Germany.

Aled Morgan Edwards is the founder and Chief Executive of the Structural Genomics Consortium, a charitable public-private partnership. He is Professor of Medical Genetics and Medical Biophysics at the University of Toronto, Visiting Professor of Chemical Biology at the University of Oxford, and Adjunct Professor at McGill University.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roger D. Kornberg</span> American biochemist and professor of structural biology

Roger David Kornberg is an American biochemist and professor of structural biology at Stanford University School of Medicine. Kornberg was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2006 for his studies of the process by which genetic information from DNA is copied to RNA, "the molecular basis of eukaryotic transcription."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eukaryotic transcription</span> Transcription is heterocatalytic function of DNA

Eukaryotic transcription is the elaborate process that eukaryotic cells use to copy genetic information stored in DNA into units of transportable complementary RNA replica. Gene transcription occurs in both eukaryotic and prokaryotic cells. Unlike prokaryotic RNA polymerase that initiates the transcription of all different types of RNA, RNA polymerase in eukaryotes comes in three variations, each translating a different type of gene. A eukaryotic cell has a nucleus that separates the processes of transcription and translation. Eukaryotic transcription occurs within the nucleus where DNA is packaged into nucleosomes and higher order chromatin structures. The complexity of the eukaryotic genome necessitates a great variety and complexity of gene expression control.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Transcription factor II B</span> Mammalian protein found in Homo sapiens

Transcription factor II B (TFIIB) is a general transcription factor that is involved in the formation of the RNA polymerase II preinitiation complex (PIC) and aids in stimulating transcription initiation. TFIIB is localised to the nucleus and provides a platform for PIC formation by binding and stabilising the DNA-TBP complex and by recruiting RNA polymerase II and other transcription factors. It is encoded by the TFIIB gene, and is homologous to archaeal transcription factor B and analogous to bacterial sigma factors.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">TCEA1</span> Human protein-coding gene

Transcription elongation factor A protein 1 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the TCEA1 gene.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Klaus Weber</span> German scientist (1936–2016)

Klaus Weber was a German scientist who made many fundamentally important contributions to biochemistry, cell biology, and molecular biology, and was for many years the director of the Laboratory of Biochemistry and Cell Biology at the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry in Göttingen, Germany. This institute has been renamed the Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mary Osborn</span> British molecular biologist

Mary Osborn is a L'Oréal-UNESCO Women in Science Award-winning English cell biologist who, until she stopped running an active laboratory in 2005, was on the scientific staff at the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry, Göttingen, Germany. Osborn established two techniques frequently used by cell biologists. She pioneered both molecular weight determination of proteins using SDS PAGE and immunofluorescence microscopy. Osborn also used the immunofluorescence microscopy method to work out the details of the eukaryotic cytoskeleton. Small differences in the intermediate filament constituents helped her distinguish differentiated cells from each other. She also found intermediate filament immunofluorescence differences between normal versus cancer cells. Mary Osborn has been a prominent spokesperson for women in science.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ernst Schering Prize</span> German science and technology award

The Ernst Schering Prize is awarded annually by the Ernst Schering Foundation for especially outstanding basic research in the fields of medicine, biology or chemistry anywhere in the world. Established in 1991 by the Ernst Schering Research Foundation, and named after the German apothecary and industrialist, Ernst Christian Friedrich Schering, who founded the Schering Corporation, the prize is now worth €50,000.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Emmanuelle Charpentier</span> French microbiologist, biochemist and Nobel laureate

Emmanuelle Marie Charpentier is a French professor and researcher in microbiology, genetics, and biochemistry. As of 2015, she has been a director at the Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology in Berlin. In 2018, she founded an independent research institute, the Max Planck Unit for the Science of Pathogens. In 2020, Charpentier and American biochemist Jennifer Doudna of the University of California, Berkeley, were awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry "for the development of a method for genome editing". This was the first science Nobel Prize ever won by two women only.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John McCaskill</span> Australian chemist

John S. McCaskill is an Australian chemist who works in a wide variety of fields ranging from theoretical biochemistry to novel computation to artificial life.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ari Helenius</span>

Ari Helenius is a Finnish emeritus professor of biochemistry who is known for his research in virology.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Melina Schuh</span> German molecular biologist

Melina Schuh is a German biochemist and Director at the Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences. She is known for her work on meiosis in mammalian oocytes, for her studies on the mechanisms leading to the age-related decline in female fertility, and for the development of the Trim-Away protein depletion method.

Asifa Akhtar is a Pakistani biologist who has made significant contributions to the field of chromosome regulation. She is Senior Group Leader and Director of the Department of Chromatin Regulation at the Max Planck Institute of Immunobiology and Epigenetics. Akhtar was awarded EMBO membership in 2013. She became the first international and female Vice President of the Max Planck Society's Biology and Medicine Section in July 2020.

Wolfgang P. Baumeister is a German molecular biologist and biophysicist. His research has been pivotal in the development of Cryoelectron tomography.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stephan Grill</span> German biophysicist (born 1974)

Stephan Wolfgang Grill is a German biophysicist.

References

  1. ↑ "2020 NAS Election". www.nasonline.org.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Website of the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry, CV" (PDF).
  3. ↑ "Website of the Kornberg Laboratory: List of current and past lab members" . Retrieved 23 May 2017.
  4. ↑ "History of the Gene Center of the University of Munich LMU". Archived from the original on 1 March 2012. Retrieved 23 May 2017.
  5. ↑ "Press release by the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry: Patrick Cramer appointed Director". Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry. 2 January 2014. Retrieved 23 May 2017.
  6. ↑ "Editorial Board: Cell".
  7. ↑ "Patrick Cramer wird ab Juni 2023 neuer Präsident der Max-Planck-Gesellschaft". www.mpg.de (in German). Retrieved 11 July 2022.
  8. 1 2 "Website of the Cramer Laboratory at the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry in Göttingen, Germany" . Retrieved 23 May 2017.
  9. ↑ "Advanced information on the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2006" (PDF). Retrieved 23 May 2017.
  10. ↑ Cheung, AC; Cramer, Patrick (2012). "A Movie of RNA polymerase II Transcription". Cell. 149 (7): 1431–1437. doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2012.06.006 . hdl: 11858/00-001M-0000-0015-3E91-7 . PMID   22726432.
  11. 1 2 "Researchers Solve Structure of SARS-CoV-2 Viral Copy Machine". from Technology Networks. Retrieved 29 April 2020.
  12. ↑ "Website of the EMBL Council" . Retrieved 23 May 2017.
  13. ↑ "Press release by the German Research Foundation (DFG) on the Leibniz Price 2006" . Retrieved 23 May 2017.
  14. ↑ "Bijvoet Medal". Bijvoet Center for Biomolecular Research. Archived from the original on 12 September 2017. Retrieved 12 September 2017.
  15. ↑ "List of laureates of the Ernst Jung Prize for Medicine". Archived from the original on 19 September 2016. Retrieved 23 May 2017.
  16. ↑ "Website of the Bayer Foundation on the Hansen Family Award" . Retrieved 23 May 2017.
  17. ↑ "Press release by the University of Munich: Patrick Cramer receives ERC Advanced Grant" . Retrieved 23 May 2017.
  18. ↑ "Website of the Feldberg Foundation Prize" . Retrieved 23 May 2017.
  19. ↑ "Press release of the University of Munich: Cross of Merit for Patrick Cramer" . Retrieved 23 May 2017.
  20. ↑ "Website of the Arhur Burkhardt Foundation" . Retrieved 23 May 2017.
  21. ↑ "Website of the Cramer Laboratory at the Karolinska Institutet Stockholm, Sweden" . Retrieved 23 May 2017.
  22. ↑ "Press release by the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry, Göttingen, Germany: Advanced Grant of the ERC for Patrick Cramer" . Retrieved 23 May 2017.
  23. ↑ "Biochemical Society – The Centenary Award" . Retrieved 23 May 2017.
  24. ↑ "Patrick Cramer erhält den Louis-Jeantet-Preis für Medizin 2021". Max-Planck-Gesellschaft (in German). 31 March 2021. Retrieved 30 April 2021.
  25. ↑ Shaw Prize 2023
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