Christoph Scholtissek (born December 25, 1929 in Dortmund) is a German biochemist and virologist. He is particularly known for his fundamental work and discoveries on animal and human influenza viruses.

Life

Christoph Scholtissek studied chemistry at the University of Mainz and began - after various scientific positions at the University of Heidelberg, Madison and the University of Naples - his virological research at the Max Planck Institute for Virus Research in Tübingen with [Dr. Heinrich Werner Schäfer (born 1912)], the nestor of virology in Germany at the time. Here he dealt with the reproduction and biochemistry of the classic avian influenza virus. In 1964 he followed his colleague Rudolf Rott from Tübingen as C3 professor for biochemistry and virology at the Institute for Virology in Gießen, where he worked until his retirement in 1995. As an emeritus, he continued to research his field, was visiting professor in the Virology and Molecular Biology Department at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, and continues to publish on influenza viruses.

Researches

Among other things, he demonstrated that the genome of influenza viruses is segmented and that this gives the viruses the high genetic variability in new pandemics. The epidemiological importance of the domestic pig in the mixture of human, porcine and avian influenza virus strains to newly arranged viruses was largely recognized by him. The name mixing vessel for this special position of pigs in the epidemiology and genetics of influenza viruses goes back to Scholtissek. He was the first to succeed in establishing temperature-sensitive mutations to study the function of virus proteins in influenza viruses, and he described the importance of phosphorylation of the nucleoprotein during virus replication. Since the 1960s he has been working on specific inhibitors of virus replication that could be used in the treatment of influenza. Over 200 publications in scientific journals reflect his influence on modern virology of the 20th century.

Awards

Dr. Fritz Merck Prize 1967

Prize of the German Society for Hygiene and Microbiology 1981

Loeffler Frosch Medal of the Society for Virology 2009