The
Department of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, and Biophysics
presents
The Stanley Dagley Lectureship
DR. ROLF THAUER
Professor of Microbiology
Department of Biochemistry
Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology
Marburg/Germany
"On Methanogens and Methanotrophs"
Wednesday, December 3, 2003 - 4:00 p.m.
Seminar room (room 105), Microbial and Plant Genomics Building, St. Paul
Campus
"Biochemistry of Methanogenesis"
Thursday, December 4, 2003 - 4:00 p.m.
Seminar room (room 105), Microbial and Plant Genomics Building, St. Paul
Campus
Dr. Rolf Thauer
Biography
Rolf Thauer was born in Frankfurt/Main, Germany, in 1939. He studied medicine and biochemistry at the Universities of Frankfurt, Tübingen and Freiburg. He received the PhD degree 1968 in Freiburg with Karl Decker. During his postdoc in the laboratory of Karl Decker in Freiburg he worked for three months in the laboratory of Harland G. Wood in Cleveland, Ohio. In 1972 he was appointed Associate Professor for Biochemistry at the University of Bochum where he stayed until 1976. Since then he is Full Professor for Microbiology at the Philipps University Marburg and since 1991 additionally Director of the newly founded Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology in Marburg.
Since his PhD work, which was on the energy metabolism of Clostridium kluyveri, Rolf Thauer has been interested in the biochemistry and physiology of strictly anaerobic bacteria. In 1977 he published together with Kurt Jungermann and Karl Decker his first extensive review on the subject (Bacteriological Reviews, Vol. 41, pp 100-180), which rapidly became a citation classic. From Clostridia he turned to sulfate reducing bacteria and methanogenic archaea growing on H2/sulfate and H2/CO2, respectively. In 1979 his group discovered that methanogenic archaea are dependent on nickel for growth, which led to the discovery of nickel in hydrogenases, in carbon monoxide dehydrogenases and in methyl-coenzyme M reductase. The latter enzyme was found to contain the nickel porphinoid F430 as prosthetic group, whose structure was elucidated in collaboration with A. Eschenmoser .
Work in the 90’s concentrated on the purification and characterization of the enzymes involved in CO2 reduction to methane. Subsequently the crystal structure of the enzymes were determined to obtain insight into their catalytic mechanism. His most recent studies deal with the elucidation of the structure and function of two novel cofactors, one involved in H2 activation and the other in anaerobic methane oxidation.
Although the pursuit of research and teaching was always his main concern, he served as Dean of the Faculty of Biology in Marburg (1981), as Vice President of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (1983 – 1987) and as Founding Director of the Max Planck Institute in Marburg (since 1991). In 1991 he was R. Sammet visiting Professor in Frankfurt and in 1999 Shimizu Visiting Professor in Stanford.
Among his honors are the Otto Warburg Medaille(1984), the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize (1987), the Carus Medaille (1992), the A. J. Kluyver Memorial Lecture (1995), the Albert Neuberger Lecture (1997), the Marjory Stephenson Prize Lecture(1998) and the Honorary Doctorate of the ETH Zürich ( 2001). Since 1984 he is member of the Leopodina and since 1987 of the Academia Europaea.
Stanley Dagley
Regents Professor of Biochemistry
1966-1987
Stanley Dagley was Regents Professor of Biochemistry at the University
of Minnesota. Known for his luminary teaching, Professor Dagley was also
highly regarded for his research on microbial oxidation reactions. Dagley
first studied microbial biochemistry from a thermodynamics standpoint
with Chemistry Nobel Laureate Sir Cyril Hinshelwood at Oxford. He started
his professorial career at the University of Leeds and then at the University
of Illinois, Urbana prior to his distinguished tenure at the University
of Minnesota.
Dagley received his BSc and MA from Oxford University in 1938, followed
by an MSc from University of London in 1948 and a DSc in Biochemistry
from the University of Leeds in 1952. He was a reader and then Professor
at the University of Leeds from 1952-1966. From 1963-1964 he was a visiting
Professor at the University of Illinois-Urbana, where he first isolated
Pseudomonas U from a highly polluted stream near his home. In 1966 he
joined the University of Minnesota’s College of Biological Science
as a professor of Biochemistry. As one of the original faculty members,
Dagley contributed greatly to the early success and growth of the College
of Biological Sciences. His influence in the field brought many outstanding
postdoctorals and visiting Professors from England to the College of Biological
Science. Dagley became the American editor of Biochemical Education and
was a member of the American Society of Biological Chemists, American
Society of Microbiology, Biochemistry Society, and the Society of General
Microbiology. Stanley Dagley’s research concentrated on enzymatic
reactions used by microorganisms to degrade natural products and man-made
compounds, especially those containing the benzene nucleus. His work in
biodegradation has influenced current research being conducted at the
University of Minnesota and elsewhere.
Stanley Dagley Lectureship
Professor Stanley Dagley inspired a legion of scientists to investigate
novel and exotic microbial biochemistry using simple, but elegant, biochemical
logic. Some of those he inspired have initiated the Stanley Dagley Lectureship.
The Dagley Lectureship is supported by the Department of Biochemistry,
Molecular Biology, and Biophysics.
“It is perhaps unusual to be able to pinpoint within two hours
the start of fifty years’ interest in a research area. However, I
well recall the sunlit morning of early summer 1937 when I called upon
C.N. Hinshelwood in his rooms at Trinity College, Oxford, to find out
whether he would be willing to let me join his group to do research in
chemical kinetics. Yes, he was willing, but on condition that I helped
him in a new venture: a study of the kinetics of growth of certain bacteria.
My initial astonishment quickly gave way to dismay. As a chemist I knew
almost nothing about bacteria…”
One year later.
“The first paper (1) showed that for a well-buffered medium with
other nutrients in excess, the size of the bacterial crop was a linear
function of the amount of carbon source (glucose) provided for growth.”
“The work described in the second (2) of the above-mentioned papers
was a follow-up observation made three years earlier: When mineral salts
media were thoroughly freed from CO2, the growth of several species of
bacteria was delayed indefinitely.”
-- Stanley Dagley.
Lessons from Biodegradation.
Am. Rev. Microbiol. 1987. 41:1-23.
1. Dagley, S., Hinshelwood, C.N. 1938. Dependence of growth of
Bact. lactis aerogenes on concentration of medium. J. Chem. Soc.
1938:1930-36.
2. Dagley, S., Hinshelwood, C.N. 1938. Quantitative dependence
of growth rate of Bact. lactis aerogenes on the carbon dioxide content
of the gas atmosphere. J. Chem. Soc. 1938:1936-42.