“Studying at the TU was extremely effective for me”
Prof. Peter Gruss began his international career as a microbiologist in Darmstadt
2024/08/13 by Astrid Ludwig
He is regarded as an American-style maker and the news magazine “Der Spiegel” once described him as “the humble high-flyer”. In fact, Peter Gruss is one of the world's leading cell biologists. He has successfully conducted research into tumour viruses and gene regulation at the German Cancer Research Centre in Heidelberg and in the United States. As President for many years, he developed the Max Planck Society further and strengthened its internationalisation. The basis for his scientific career was a degree in biology at TU Darmstadt. “Studying there was a privilege,” says the alumnus today.
He only really arrived back in Europe a few months ago. Peter Gruss was most recently President of the Okinawa Institute of Sciences and Technology in Japan for six years. He could have stayed at the private university for a second term, but he opted not to. “I'm going on holiday for now,” he says, sitting relaxed in his Breton striped T-shirt in his house on Mallorca. Resting, taking a deep breath and spending more time with his family are now the 75-year-old's top priorities. At least for the time being. After that, the microbiologist intends to look for a new project. “Keeping the grey cells active,” he calls it. As a consultant, Peter Gruss is still active in the field of science management and quality control, supports universities and research institutions and wants to promote a new generation of researchers. His knowledge and extremely wide network of leading scientific institutions worldwide are in high demand.
Presidency of the Max Planck Society
For almost 30 years, Prof. Peter Gruss worked as Director of the Department of Molecular Cell Biology at the famous Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry in Göttingen. He successfully led the Max Planck Society (MPG) for twelve years. 15 institutes were restructured during his presidency, eight additional institutes were founded and further Max Planck Centers were added worldwide. He made the Society crisis-proof in financially difficult times, focussed political attention on the importance of science and research and increasingly promoted women in science. He gave the Max Planck Society an international profile. Gruss established the MPG in the top league: “We are not competing with the average, but with the Harvards, Cambridges and ETH Zurichs of this world”.
In 1968, when he began his biology studies at what was then “Technische Hochschule Darmstadt”, he had no idea that he would one day embark on such a successful academic and scientific career. ‘I had absolutely no idea what I would do for a living,' he remembers. However, the Alsfeld-born decided early on that he would study natural sciences. He knew he wanted to learn about facts and figures and was fascinated by experiments in biology and chemistry lessons at his school in Schwalmstadt. For the young Peter Gruss, however, his studies in Darmstadt began with a semester on strike. “It was 1968, the height of the strikes,” he says.
Initially, he was only moderately enthusiastic about the undergraduate studies. Botany, zoology, plant identification in field trials, “that wasn't what I had in mind”. Early on, he was attracted to molecular analysis, the determination of molecules, which is why he took organic chemistry as a minor subject. After his Pre-degree, he remembers, “I saw a big question mark in front of me regarding my career.” That changed when he decided to study microbiology as his major subject and zoology as a minor. At the time, TU Darmstadt already had links with the University of Mainz. Gruss enrolled on a virology course there, which was his personal and scientific turning point.
Specialising in virology and microbiology
“Studying at the TU was extremely effective for me,” says the alumnus today. Back then, he managed to get one of only twelve places for large-scale internships in microbiology, which were offered together with industrial partners in areas such as viticulture or dairies. “I then went through the rest of my degree programme with these eleven fellow students. We spent every day in the lab, learnt about the entire field of microbiology and worked on mini research projects.” In Mainz, he became acquainted with animal virology, having previously come into contact with bacteriophages, i.e. viruses that specialise in bacteria as host cells, in Darmstadt. “Action and reaction could be tested directly. I loved that,” he recalls of his early days as a researcher. Gruss then specialised in virology and microbiology and wrote his Diplom thesis on the biochemistry of the cell wall of bacteria in reaction to penicillin.
The alumnus describes his time in Darmstadt as very personal. “Everyone knew everyone, we also had very close contact with the professors, who you could ask any question. Studying there was a privilege,” he emphasises. He was taught by very good lecturers, including Prof. Hubert Makel, whom he was to succeed many years later as President of the Max Planck Society. Studying at the TU encouraged his intellectual curiosity, says Gruss, “within the large-scale projects I learnt how to work independently and how research works”.
He could have written his doctoral thesis in Darmstadt, but virology and cancer viruses in particular had already caught his attention. Peter Gruss moved to the German Cancer Research Center in Heidelberg as a doctoral student, researching the development of cancer viruses and how they are able to transform or kill a cell. The processes of gene regulation became his main focus. At the end of the 1970s, he moved to the National Institute of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Maryland, where he worked on the transcription of tumour viruses. In 1981, he was one of the first in the US to discover so-called enhancers, an element in the cell that increases the activation of genes. A breakthrough. He subsequently devoted his research interest to genes that can control entire genetic programmes, such as the gene that produces insulin-producing cells from precursor cells.
Return to Germany
The TU alumnus could have pursued a research career in America. As a postdoc from the United States, everything was open to him. “There were many good offers,” he reflects. But he opted for Germany and Heidelberg again, becoming a professor at the Institute of Microbiology and a member of the Board of Directors of the ZMBH (Zentrum für Molekulare Biologie der Universität Heidelberg) at the age of just 32. “In the US, I learnt a lot. The way of organising research was an American influence on me,” says Peter Gruss. In the USA, there was always enough money for his research. “On the contrary, as a young professor in Germany, I had to write down the funding for my projects for the first time,” he recalls.
In 1986, the microbiologist moved to Göttingen as Director of the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry, to which he remained loyal until his retirement – even during his time as President of the Max Planck Society. He also kept in touch with TU Darmstadt. “I've kept in touch with fellow students to this day.”