Professor Dr Wolfgang Deppert

Wolfgang Deppert studied Biology and Biochemistry at the Universities of Stuttgart and Freiburg, and in 1972 received his PhD in Biochemistry from the University of Konstanz. In 1973, Wolfgang Deppert moved to the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, CA, where he joined the laboratory of Nobel laureate Professor Renato Dulbecco as a Postdoctoral Fellow, characterizing the tumour-inducing proteins of the DNA tumour virus simian virus 40 (SV40) under the supervision of Professor Gernot Walter. After his return to Germany in 1976, he established his own research group in the laboratory of Professor Klaus Weber at the Max-Planck-Institute for Biophysical Chemistry in Göttingen, continuing his work on SV40. In 1979, Wolfgang Deppert accepted a position of Associate Professor in the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Ulm. While pursuing his interest in SV40, he was one of the pioneers in working on the newly discovered p53 protein, now one of the most extensively studied tumour suppressors. In 1987, Wolfgang Deppert moved to the Heinrich-Pette-Institute (HPI) in Hamburg to accept the position of Head of the Tumour Virology Department, a position he still holds today. In addition to intensifying his scientific work on the role of p53 in tumour development and progression, Wolfgang Deppert served several terms as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the HPI. Since 2000, he has a joint appointment as full Professor of Molecular Biochemistry at the University of Hamburg. Central to the current research of his laboratory is the understanding of the interaction of wild-type and mutant p53 proteins with chromatin and the ensuing transcriptional regulation of the respective target genes, as well as the analysis of mutant p53 gain of function using mouse models for mammary carcinoma.

Wolfgang Deppert's numerous scientific achievements were honoured by several prizes, among them the prestigious German Cancer Award for Experimental Cancer Research in 1997. Wolfgang Deppert is an Editorial Board Member of Oncogene since the launch of Oncogene in 1987, and an Associate Editor of Biochemistry and Cell Biology.