Questions and AnswersProf. Dr. Dr. hc Hermann Wagner

How or why did you become involved in infection research, what
fascinates you about this subject?
Pathogens need to overcome a complex defence system of innate and adaptive immune cells. I was fascinated by the prospect of boosting immunity to pathogens by developing ever improving vaccination protocols. To achieve this, however, I first have to understand the rules governing immunity to infections.

What are you working on at the moment?
The immunobiology of Toll-like receptors (TLRs) is the focus of my current work. In particular, I have a continuing love affair with TLR9.

What were the turning points in science, in career, in life that influenced
your decisions?
To Prof. Paul Klein (former head of the Institute of Med. Mikrobiology, Gutenberg-University Mainz) goes credit for focussing my interest to infection and immunity. Sir Gus Nossal (Walter and Eliza Hall Institute, Melbourne/Australia) taught me as a DGF funded post-doc how to do science. My decision to stay in science, however, is rooted in my deep convincement that unravelling Nature’s “immunity” secrets is a match to the thrilling sensation someone would experience if he discovered an unknown sonata by Franz Schubert.

What was a single most important moment of your career?
When a student (MD, PhD) gets conceptionally independent and goes on at his own.

What was your most important scientific discovery?
To discover the physiological relevance of Toll-like receptors and of other pattern recognition receptors for infection research/immunity.

What drives you and carries you on? What do you love about your work?
I am fortunate enough to be surrounded by a group of intellectually sharp and highly motivated scientific colleagues. To substantiate a scientific point of argument until it withstands their intellectual attack is highly motivating.

What influenced and impressed you and your life and therefore science?
Idols?
The spirit of patronage that springs from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG).

What would you recommend to someone starting out in science? What would be your advice for young scientists?
Choose a discipline following your personal interest and select an established, outstanding laboratory and institute to learn the trade secrets of doing science. As soon as you feel strong enough, reach out to cross the border of your field of study to enter virgin new territories.

What would have been your alternative plan (plan B) if science /your job
had not worked out?
To play the piano, but only at home.

What are your dreams for the future?
That my faculty selects a good successor when I retire.

What do you think is important and should be worked on in the future?
To strengthen immunity by vaccination.

What do you do when you are not working?
If there is time, I attempt to challenge my Steinway.

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