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Arnold Graffi
Obituary
Arnold Graffi A pioneer of experimental cancer research. Born June 19, 1910, in the German-speaking community of Bistritz, Transylvania (now Romania). He died in Berlin, Germany, on Jan 30, 2006, at the age of 95 years. Arnold Graffi “was one of the pioneers of experimental cancer research of the 20th century in Germany”, said Walter Birchmeier, scientific director of the Max Delbrück Centre for Molecular Medicine Berlin-Buch, Berlin, Germany. Graffi’s research revealed some of the processes involved in the development of cancer caused by chemical substances and viruses, two of which bear his name. Graffi studied medicine in Germany from 1930 to 1935 at the universities of Marburg, Leipzig, and Tübingen. He then moved to Berlin, where he began to focus on cancer research while studying for his PhD at Charité medical school. He led a nomadic existence during World War II, working at the Paul Ehrlich Institute in Frankfurt, followed by interim posts in Prague and Budapest. In 1943, he returned to Berlin to work at a research laboratory for Schering A G. He then completed his Habilitation at the Humboldt University in Berlin. In 1948, Graffi obtained a chair at the Academy Institute for Medicine and Biology at Berlin-Buch in the former East Germany, where he then became founding director of the Institute for Experimental Cancer Research, which became part of the Max Delbrück Centre for Molecular Medicine after German reunification. Jan Svoboda, a renowned virologist who is now retired from the Institute of Molecular Genetics at the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic in Prague, described Graffi’s laboratory in East Berlin as the “Mecca of cancer research” of the former eastern bloc communist nations. 980
Until his retirement, in 1975, Graffi made important advances in cancer research. Manfred Rajewsky, now retired founding director of the Institute for Cell Biology at the University of Essen, Germany, describes Graffi as a forward-looking researcher in those early days of cancer research. “Graffi was a pioneer and a visionary. He sort of imagined the directions that would become important in cancer research and he was right. He actually was the first to show, in 1939, that carcinogenic hydrocarbons become enriched in mitochondria”, Rajewsky told The Lancet. During the 1940s and into the early 1950s, Graffi’s research focused on the structure and effect of chemical carcinogens. In the 1950s, as the winds of experimental cancer research shifted toward viruses, Graffi was again at the forefront of these efforts. One of his most important discoveries was a virus that caused leukaemia in mice; this virus was named the Graffi virus. In the early 1960s, Graffi began to think about gene therapy for cancer and other viral and genetic diseases. He suggested that it would be possible to target and switch off disease-causing genes—an approach that in subsequent years became known as gene silencing. In addition to being a groundbreaking theoretician and research scientist, Graffi was an inspiring teacher. Volker Wunderlich worked with Graffi as a postdoctoral student. Wunderlich, who retired from the Max Delbrück Centre for Molecular Medicine 2 years ago, recalls that Graffi expected hard work from his students, but gave them freedom to explore and find their own way. According to Wunderlich, the cancer institute and its staff members were like a family and Graffi “was the father of that family”. Even after retirement, Graffi still yearned to discover more about cancer. In the early 1980s, he asked Günter Pasternak, one of his former postdoctoral students, for help in returning to the laboratory. At that time Pasternak was Scientific Director of the Academy of Sciences Institute for Molecular Biology at Berlin-Buch, and he gave his old teacher laboratory space and a small staff. “Even after retirement, he still had ideas. He wanted to start again in cancer research, to find ways to optimise chemotherapy”, Pasternak told The Lancet. Graffi abandoned his chemotherapy research in the late 1980s when he was approaching the age of 80 years. Graffi was the recipient of many awards, including the Paul Ehrlich Prize in Frankfurt/Main in 1979, the Helmholtz Medal of the Academy of Sciences in Berlin in 1984, and the Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany in 1995. In the last years of his life, Graffi concentrated on his artistic pursuits: he painted and composed on piano. In 1999, one of his landscape paintings was used on the cover of an issue of The EMBO Journal. Graffi is survived by his wife, Ingeborg Graffi, a retired biologist.
Ned Stafford [email protected]
www.thelancet.com Vol 367 March 25, 2006
Arnold Graffi A pioneer of experimental cancer research. Born June 19, 1910, in the German-speaking community of Bistritz, Transylvania (now Romania). He died in Berlin, Germany, on Jan 30, 2006, at the age of 95 years. Arnold Graffi “was one of the pioneers of experimental cancer research of the 20th century in Germany”, said Walter Birchmeier, scientific director of the Max Delbrück Centre for Molecular Medicine Berlin-Buch, Berlin, Germany. Graffi’s research revealed some of the processes involved in the development of cancer caused by chemical substances and viruses, two of which bear his name. Graffi studied medicine in Germany from 1930 to 1935 at the universities of Marburg, Leipzig, and Tübingen. He then moved to Berlin, where he began to focus on cancer research while studying for his PhD at Charité medical school. He led a nomadic existence during World War II, working at the Paul Ehrlich Institute in Frankfurt, followed by interim posts in Prague and Budapest. In 1943, he returned to Berlin to work at a research laboratory for Schering A G. He then completed his Habilitation at the Humboldt University in Berlin. In 1948, Graffi obtained a chair at the Academy Institute for Medicine and Biology at Berlin-Buch in the former East Germany, where he then became founding director of the Institute for Experimental Cancer Research, which became part of the Max Delbrück Centre for Molecular Medicine after German reunification. Jan Svoboda, a renowned virologist who is now retired from the Institute of Molecular Genetics at the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic in Prague, described Graffi’s laboratory in East Berlin as the “Mecca of cancer research” of the former eastern bloc communist nations. 980
Until his retirement, in 1975, Graffi made important advances in cancer research. Manfred Rajewsky, now retired founding director of the Institute for Cell Biology at the University of Essen, Germany, describes Graffi as a forward-looking researcher in those early days of cancer research. “Graffi was a pioneer and a visionary. He sort of imagined the directions that would become important in cancer research and he was right. He actually was the first to show, in 1939, that carcinogenic hydrocarbons become enriched in mitochondria”, Rajewsky told The Lancet. During the 1940s and into the early 1950s, Graffi’s research focused on the structure and effect of chemical carcinogens. In the 1950s, as the winds of experimental cancer research shifted toward viruses, Graffi was again at the forefront of these efforts. One of his most important discoveries was a virus that caused leukaemia in mice; this virus was named the Graffi virus. In the early 1960s, Graffi began to think about gene therapy for cancer and other viral and genetic diseases. He suggested that it would be possible to target and switch off disease-causing genes—an approach that in subsequent years became known as gene silencing. In addition to being a groundbreaking theoretician and research scientist, Graffi was an inspiring teacher. Volker Wunderlich worked with Graffi as a postdoctoral student. Wunderlich, who retired from the Max Delbrück Centre for Molecular Medicine 2 years ago, recalls that Graffi expected hard work from his students, but gave them freedom to explore and find their own way. According to Wunderlich, the cancer institute and its staff members were like a family and Graffi “was the father of that family”. Even after retirement, Graffi still yearned to discover more about cancer. In the early 1980s, he asked Günter Pasternak, one of his former postdoctoral students, for help in returning to the laboratory. At that time Pasternak was Scientific Director of the Academy of Sciences Institute for Molecular Biology at Berlin-Buch, and he gave his old teacher laboratory space and a small staff. “Even after retirement, he still had ideas. He wanted to start again in cancer research, to find ways to optimise chemotherapy”, Pasternak told The Lancet. Graffi abandoned his chemotherapy research in the late 1980s when he was approaching the age of 80 years. Graffi was the recipient of many awards, including the Paul Ehrlich Prize in Frankfurt/Main in 1979, the Helmholtz Medal of the Academy of Sciences in Berlin in 1984, and the Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany in 1995. In the last years of his life, Graffi concentrated on his artistic pursuits: he painted and composed on piano. In 1999, one of his landscape paintings was used on the cover of an issue of The EMBO Journal. Graffi is survived by his wife, Ingeborg Graffi, a retired biologist.
Ned Stafford [email protected]
www.thelancet.com Vol 367 March 25, 2006