Maria Leptin facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Maria Leptin
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Leptin in Heidelberg, 2017
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| President of the European Research Council | |
| Assumed office 1 November 2021 |
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| Preceded by | Jean-Pierre Bourguignon (interim) |
| Director of the European Molecular Biology Organization | |
| In office 1 January 2010 – 30 October 2021 |
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| Preceded by | Hermann Bujard |
| Succeeded by | Fiona Watt |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1954 (age 70–71) Hamburg, Germany |
| Spouse | Jonathan Howard |
| Children | 2 |
| Alma mater | Basel Institute for Immunology Heidelberg University University of Bonn |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Developmental biology Immunology |
| Institutions | European Molecular Biology Organization European Molecular Biology Laboratory University of Cologne Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology |
| Doctoral advisor | Fritz Melchers |
Maria Leptin (born in 1954) is a German scientist. She studies how living things grow and develop (called developmental biology). She also studies the body's defense system (called immunology).
Currently, she is the president of the European Research Council. This organization helps fund important scientific research in Europe. Before this, she was the director of the European Molecular Biology Organization from 2010 to 2021.
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Learning and Studying
Maria Leptin studied mathematics and biology at the University of Bonn and Heidelberg University. She first thought about becoming a teacher.
In 1979, she decided to get her PhD. A PhD is a high-level university degree for researchers. She studied at the Basel Institute for Immunology. Her supervisor was Fritz Melchers.
Her research focused on how certain cells, called B-cells, become active. These cells are part of your immune response. They help your body fight off infections. She finished her PhD in 1983.
Her Scientific Career
After getting her PhD in 1984, Maria Leptin moved to Cambridge, UK. She joined a research group at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology. Here, she worked as a postdoctoral fellow. This means she was a scientist doing research after her PhD.
Studying Fruit Flies
It was in Cambridge that she became interested in developmental biology. She studied how tiny parts called integrins help Drosophila (fruit flies) grow. She looked at their embryonic development, which is how an embryo forms. In 1988, she became a permanent scientist at the lab.
Her time in Cambridge made her curious about cell shapes. She also studied how cells move early in development. This included a process called gastrulation. Gastrulation is a key step when an embryo starts to form its main body layers. She began researching this in 1989.
Research in Germany
After a short visit to the University of California, San Francisco, she moved to Tübingen, Germany. She led a research group at the Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology. Her group focused on gastrulation until 1994.
Then, she became a professor at the University of Cologne in Germany. She still holds this position. At Cologne, her group first continued studying gastrulation. Later, they shifted to how the breathing system of fruit flies develops.
Studying Zebrafish
Eventually, Maria Leptin started using zebrafish in her research. Zebrafish are small fish often used as a model organism in science. This means they are easy to study to learn about biology. She used them to understand the innate immune system. This is the body's first line of defense against germs.
She also visited other universities as a guest professor. She was at the École Normale Supérieure in Paris in 2001. She also visited the Wellcome Sanger Institute in the UK from 2004 to 2005.
Leading Science Organizations
In 2009, Maria Leptin was chosen to be the director of the European Molecular Biology Organization. She started this role in January 2010. She also set up a research group at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory in Heidelberg. This group studies cell shape in fruit flies. They also watch the immune response in zebrafish using special imaging.
In 2018, she was a visiting professor at the University of Oxford. She taught about cell and developmental biology.
In June 2021, Maria Leptin was appointed as the next president of the European Research Council. She officially started this important role on November 1, 2021.
Besides her scientific research, Maria Leptin has held other important roles. She was the president of the German Society for Developmental Biology from 1996 to 1997. She also led the Initiative for Science in Europe from 2012 to 2017. She has been a member of several scientific advisory boards.
Awards and Recognition
Maria Leptin has received many honors for her work:
- She became a member of the European Molecular Biology Organisation in 1996.
- She joined Academia Europaea in 1998.
- She became a member of the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina in 2016.
- She was made an Honorary Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences in 2017.
- She became a Foreign Member of the Royal Society in 2022.
