Born 1957 in Essen. Study of medicine, doctorate Heidelberg Univ. (1985), German Habilitation in biochemistry at Munich University (1990), Professor at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and Cornell Medical College New York (1991- 1997), Associate Investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Honorary Professor of the Medical Faculty and the Faculty of Chemistry and Pharmacy of Munich University, Director and Scientific Member at the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry (since 1997).