In memoriam: Max G. Bachem, MD, PhD, Dr.hc Professor for Clinical Chemistry, 1952–2014

In memoriam: Max G. Bachem, MD, PhD, Dr.hc Professor for Clinical Chemistry, 1952–2014

Pancreatology 14 (2014) 231e232 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Pancreatology journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/pan In memoriam: ...

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Pancreatology 14 (2014) 231e232

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Pancreatology journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/pan

In memoriam: Max G. Bachem, MD, PhD, Dr.hc Professor for Clinical Chemistry, 1952e2014 It is with great sadness that we report the death of our dear friend and colleague Max Georg Bachem. He passed away after a brief and severe disease on February the 2nd. He was the Director of the Department of Clinical Chemistry at the University Hospital of Ulm in Germany and well known to all pancreatologists for his seminal work on the mechanisms of pancreatic fibrosis. Born in 1952 in Kaiserslautern, Germany, he graduated in medicine and nutrition science and started his scientific and clinical career in clinical chemistry at the University of Marburg in 1987. Later he continued his career at the University of Ulm, where he was appointed Director of the University Hospital's Department of Clinical Chemistry in 2003.

His research was initially focused on the molecular and cellular basis of liver fibrosis and he was one of the researchers involved in defining the role of hepatic stellate cells (HSC) for the development of fibrosis. A close cooperation with the pancreatologists in Marburg and later in Ulm motivated him to investigate whether a cell type equivalent to hepatic stellate cells is present in the pancreas and involved in the development of pancreatic fibrosis. From 1998 to 2010 he was part of the Collaborative Research Center 518 (SFB http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.pan.2014.07.001 1424-3903

518) “Inflammation, Regeneration and Transformation in the Pancreas” supported by the German Research Foundation (DFG) at the Medical and Natural Sciences Faculties of the University of Ulm. Early in the beginning of the collaborative research center Max Bachem and coworkers in Ulm (Bachem et al., Gastroenterology 115:421e432, 1998), at the same time as Minoti Apte and coworkers (Apte et al., Gut 43:128e133, 1998) identified, isolated, and characterized a new cell type from rat and human pancreas, which was named “pancreatic stellate cells” (PSC) since they had a similar phenotype as the afore mentioned hepatic stellate cells (HSC). Pancreatic stellate cells are resident cells of the pancreatic parenchyma which, when activated by factors released during pancreatic injury, transform into a myofibroblast-like phenotype that synthesizes and secretes excessive amounts of extracellular matrix proteins. It is now well established that PSC are responsible for producing the stromal reaction (fibrosis) in chronic pancreatitis and pancreatic cancer. Even though PSCs were described as early as 1998, there has been an exponential increase in research on the biology and function of these cells over the past decade by numerous research groups around the world. In the years to follow Max Bachem made major contributions to clarify how stellate cells are activated to synthesize extracellular matrix components and contribute to fibrogenesis in the pancreas and how they interact with tumor cells in the tumor microenvironment to influence desmoplasia, invasion and metastasis.

His research resulted in 102 publications in high ranked journals which will have an ongoing major impact on pancreatic research. He had a special gift not only to provide excellent research but as

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well to generate excellent figures to illustrate his data. To pay tribute to him below we show an unpublished image of cultured PSC with fluorescent staining of actin (green) and focal adhesion kinase (pink), provided to us by his coworkers in Ulm. We will miss Max Bachem, together with many colleagues and friends around the world. He was an exemplary medical professional, a great scientist and a mentor for many. Our deepest condolences go to his wife Edeltrud, his son Max and his daughter Laura. Thomas M. Gress Department of Gastroenterology, University Hospital of Marburg, Philipps University of Marburg, Germany Guido Adler University Hospital of Heidelberg, Ruprecht-Karls-University of Heidelberg, Germany We were shocked and deeply saddened to hear that Max Bachem, well known pancreatologist and Director, Department of Clinical Chemistry, University Hospital of Ulm, Germany, passed away unexpectedly in February after a short illness. The pancreatic stellate cell community has lost a stalwart of the field. We of the Pancreatic Research Group in Sydney, shared the spotlight with Max Bachem's Group in the late 1990s, being the first to isolate and characterize pancreatic stellate cells, which were soon established as the key effector cells responsible for producing pancreatic fibrosis. Our paper describing a method to isolate normal stellate cells from rodent pancreas was published in the

July issue of Gut in 1998. At the time, we were unaware that two other groups, one in Ulm, Germany (Max Bachem, Guido Adler and colleagues) and another in Southampton, UK (David Fine and colleagues) were also interested in the same cells. Max and his colleagues described the isolation of activated PSCs from human chronic pancreatitis tissue in their paper published very soon after ours, in the August issue of Gastroenterology in 1998. Our shared research interests and discoveries in what was one of the important ‘breakthroughs’ of its time with respect to our understanding of pancreatic pathophysiology, forged a strong connection and friendship between the Sydney, Ulm and Southampton Groups. In 2011, the Pancreatic Star Alliance brought together several prominent researchers around the world who were working on stellate cells and Max Bachem was a key participant in the meeting. Over the past decade and a half, we were fortunate to be able to catch up with Max at major international meetings and to sometimes dine out with him. It was at such social occasions that we saw another side to this eminent scientist, as we discovered Max's love for outdoor activities such as hunting and motorbike riding, and his pride as he talked about his family. We will miss him greatly. Our sincerest condolences go out to Max's family and friends. May God rest his soul. Minoti Apte and Jeremy Wilson Pancreatic Research Group, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia