Questions and AnswersProf. Dr. Werner Goebel

How or why did you become involved in infection research, what fascinates you about this subject?
I studied “hard-core” chemistry and did not care much about biology and medicine at that time. More by chance I got involved during my doctoral thesis in some aspects of microbial biochemistry and genetics which I found quite interesting. But during this time I had the chance to visit for several months Kenya where my father-in-law worked as veterinarian virologist in an institute which developed vaccines against various animal and human viral and bacterial pathogens. Walking through Nairobi and travelling with him through different parts of Africa I realized how disastrous infectious diseases really were for a large part of mankind. We communicated a lot on these problems and there was one of his remarks that I kept in mind: “we (as veterinarians) work with these pathogens but we do not understand why they are pathogens – but you as biochemists have the tools to unravel their secrets “.       

What are you working on at the moment?
Being an emeritus since one year I have now only limited possibilities to perform actual scientific work but I am still trying to work - in collaboration with others – on one aspect of bacterial pathogenesis which was long neglected, namely the interaction between bacterial and host metabolism and the bacterial virulence. My early solid training in chemistry and biochemistry is now of great value for these studies.    

What were the turning points in science, in career, in life that influenced your decisions?
See above. But there were some other very decisive moments. During my thesis (and after my African experience) I attended a seminar of the late H. Friedrich-Freksa, at that time one of the leading scientists of the Max-Planck-Institut of Virology in Tübingen. Friedrich-Freksa was not only an excellent scientist but also an extremely stimulating teacher who could fascinate his students. In one of his seminars we discussed papers on “transmissible episomal elements” in bacteria and some of these “episomes” seemed to be somehow involved in pathogenicity and antibiotic resistance of pathogenic enterobacteria. This evidence was based at that time exclusively on some formal genetical experiments and mainly on speculation, since nobody had ever isolated such an “episome”. But Friedrich-Freksa told me about a brilliant young scientist at the UCSD in La Jolla by the name of Don Helinski (“he comes from Yanofsky!”) who was actually trying to isolate these hypothetical extrachromosomal elements. I wrote to Helinski and he took me as postdoc. This was probably the most important turning point for me in science and in my career. It allowed me to participate in the beginnings of the molecular biology of bacterial plasmids (Helinski´s group was the first one which succeeded in physically isolating bacterial plasmids) – and the plasmids led me finally to molecular bacterial pathogenicity: I remembered that my father-in-law once told me that some of the E. coli strains which they isolated from cattle suffering from diarrhoea were haemolytic, but that this property was eliminated upon culturing these strains in the lab. My plasmid experience told me: ah, haemolysis of these E. coli strains must be plasmid-encoded. I was lucky: these strains indeed carried the haemolysin determinant on plasmids which as we know today is quite unusual. Later, our group (especially my highly talented co-worker J. Hacker) showed that the haemolysin determinant is most frequent in uropathogenic E. coli strains where it is located together with other virulence determinants on pathogenicity islands. This was actually the start of my deeper interest and involvement in bacterial pathogenicity.   

What was a single most important moment of your career?
When I obtained my first (rather big) research grant from the DFG and got the chance to do independent research with an own group.

What was your most important scientific discovery?
Hard to tell, maybe the finding that haemolysin as a protein was secreted by a mechanism completely different from the Sec-pathway which at that time was believed to be the only pathway by which proteins are transported across a membrane.   

What drives you and carries you on? What do you love about your work?
Curiosity and the excitement to learn something about the unknowns.
The every day’s excitement about new and unexpected experimental results and the scientific discussion with the co-workers and colleagues.

What influenced and impressed you and your life and therefore science? Idols?
During my rather long scientific career I met many “important” (or even “famous”) and “less important” scientists who more or less impressed me (the grade of impression was not really proportional to the grade of “importance”) and influenced my life and my attitude towards science to the positive (see above) or the negative. But idols? – I think there is too much vanity in science (e.g. the daily dance around the impact factor) which distracts most of the competent scientists from becoming really great personalities. Despite Newton, Darwin, Einstein etc my idol is J.S. Bach who created an unbelievable cosmos of fantastic music – there is nothing comparable in science.

What would you recommend to someone starting out in science? What would be your advice for young scientists?
If you strongly feel you must do science do it, but be aware it is not only a very fascinating but also a very demanding job!

What would have been your alternative plan (plan B) if science /your job  had not worked out?
For me becoming a scientist was already the alternative plan (plan B) since plan A was the desire to study music and become a pianist but for this I was unfortunately not talented enough. So, I am quite happy that plan B worked.

What are your dreams for the future?
Presently I am trying to revive my buried musical abilities as far as possible. My dreams for the future are therefore more in this field. I hope to accomplish (at least at an acceptable level) some of the great works in piano music, like Bach´s Goldberg Variations, op.111 of Beethoven, and the Sonata b-minor of Liszt - I work hard on it.
Of course I also wish to stay in contact as much as possible with the exciting new developments in modern biology and especially in the field of microbial pathogenesis.   
What do you think is important and should be worked on in the future?
I could see two major points: (a) I think it is very important that future molecular studies on bacterial pathogenesis are performed in reliable in vivo systems. The frequently used artificial cell systems may generate too many artifacts. (b) The communication between the metabolic processes of the pathogens and the infected host (cell) as well as the interactions between the pathogens’ metabolism and virulence should be much more extensively studied.     

What do you do when you are not working?
Munich, where I live now, is a great place to enjoy cultural activities (concerts, opera, theatre) which I am extensively doing. But occasionally one may even find me in the Arena watching exciting soccer games.

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