Professor Katja Becker, Justus Liebig University Gießen, Germany, has been elected President of the German Research Foundation (DFG; Deutsche Forschungsgesellschaft) for a four-year period starting from January 1, 2020. She succeeds Professor Peter Strohschneider, Ludwig Maximilian University Munich (LUM), Germany, and is the first woman to become President of the DFG.
Katja Becker studied medicine at Heidelberg University, Germany, and received her Ph.D. in biochemistry in 1988. In 1993, she received her approbation as a medical doctor. In 1996, Katja Becker completed her habilitation in biochemistry at the medical faculty of the University of Heidelberg. She completed her medical residency at John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford, UK, and the University Hospital of Basel, Switzerland, and gained clinical and research experience in Nigeria, Ghana, and Australia. She qualified as a medical specialist in biochemistry at Heidelberg University in 1998. After working at Heidelberg University and Würzburg University, Germany, she joined the Justus Liebig University Gießen as a Professor for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.
From 2009 to 2012, she was Research Vice-President of the Justus Liebig University. She has been Vice-President of the DFG since 2014.
Professor Becker’s research interests include human thioredoxin reductases as potential targets for anticancer drugs. She also focuses on the exploration of metabolism mechanisms of the malarial parasite Plasmodium falciparum, and its apoptosis by external factors.
Selected Publications
- Phosphoproteome Analysis of Cells Infected with Adapted and Nonadapted Influenza A Virus Reveals Novel Pro- and Antiviral Signaling Networks,
Axel Weber, Sharmistha Dam, Vera V. Saul, Irina Kuznetsova, Christin Müller, Karin Fritz-Wolf, Katja Becker, Uwe Linne, Hongbo Gu, Matthew P. Stokes, Stephan Pleschka, Michael Kracht, M. Lienhard Schmitz, Stacey Schultz-Cherry,
J. Virol. 2019.
https://doi.org/10.1128/JVI.00528-19 - Arylmethylamino steroids as antiparasitic agents,
Reimar Krieg, Esther Jortzik, Alice-Anne Goetz, Stéphanie Blandin, Sergio Wittlin, Mourad Elhabiri, Mahsa Rahbari, Selbi Nuryyeva, Kerstin Voigt, Hans-Martin Dahse, Axel Brakhage, Svenja Beckmann, Thomas Quack, Christoph G. Grevelding, Anthony B. Pinkerton, Bruno Schönecker, Jeremy Burrows, Elisabeth Davioud-Charvet, Stefan Rahlfs, Katja Becker,
Nat. Commun. 2017.
https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms14478 - Characterization of the 26S proteasome network in Plasmodium falciparum,
Lihui Wang, Claire Delahunty, Karin Fritz-Wolf, Stefan Rahlfs, Judith Helena Prieto, John R. Yates, Katja Becker,
Sci. Rep. 2015.
https://doi.org/10.1038/srep17818 - Apicomplexan Parasites: Molecular Approaches toward Targeted Drug Development,
Becker, Katja (Ed.),
Wiley-VCH, Weinheim, 2011,
ISBN: 978-3-527-32731-7 - Adaptation of Energy Metabolism in Breast Cancer Brain Metastases,
E. I. Chen, J. Hewel, J. S. Krueger, C. Tiraby, M. R. Weber, A. Kralli, K. Becker, J. R. Yates, B. Felding-Habermann,
Cancer Research 2007, 67, 1472–1486.
https://doi.org/10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-06-3137 - Interactions of Methylene Blue with Human Disulfide Reductases and Their Orthologues from Plasmodium falciparum,
K. Buchholz, R. H. Schirmer, J. K. Eubel, M. B. Akoachere, T. Dandekar, K. Becker, S. Gromer,
Antimicrob. Agents Chemother. 2007, 52, 183–191.
https://doi.org/10.1128/AAC.00773-07 - Undressing of Phosphine Gold(I) Complexes as Irreversible Inhibitors of Human Disulfide Reductases,
Sabine Urig, Karin Fritz-Wolf, Régis Réau, Christel Herold-Mende, Katalin Tóth, Elisabeth Davioud-Charvet, Katja Becker,
Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2006, 45, 1881–1886.
https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.200502756 - On the potential of thioredoxin reductase inhibitors for cancer therapy,
Sabine Urig, Katja Becker,
Sem. Cancer Biol. 2006, 16, 452–465.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.semcancer.2006.09.004
