Born 1948 in Ludwigshafen. Study of biology, doctorate Johannes Gutenberg Univ. Mainz (summa cum laude) (1977), German Habilitation in immunology and microbiology Free Univ. Berlin (1981), Professor of Medical Microbiology and Immunology (C3 level) Ulm Univ. (1987-1991), Full Professor and Head of the Department of Immunology at Ulm Univ. (1991-1999), Director emertius and Scientific Member at the Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology, Associate and Honorary Professor Humboldt Univ. Charité/Berlin.