Josef Käs: enjoys scientific openness, cooperation and a well-equipped lab.
When Josef Käs set off for Harvard University in 1993, he was one of hundreds of hopeful young German researchers who cross the Atlantic each year searching for a scientific career. Ten years later, he is one of a small group of top scientists for whom the German government is prepared to dig deep in its pockets to entice home.
The letter that made him a member of this élite circle arrived two years ago. In 2001, the government-financed Alexander von Humboldt Foundation offered him the prestigious Wolfgang Paul Award — a scheme designed to bring scientists with international reputations to Germany. The recipients can conduct research in a German lab of their choice, with the unusually generous support of about 
2 million (US$2.2 million) over three years.
Käs didn't think twice. Top universities would have gladly opened their doors to the 40-year-old biophysicist. But the Munich-born researcher made an unexpected move — he established his group at the University of Leipzig in the east of the country.
The University of Leipzig's high-energy nanometre ion probe is one of only two in the world.
His decision reflects the growing attractiveness of the country's new eastern Länder (states) to young researchers seeking opportunities and first-class working conditions in many emerging fields. Yet Germany's fragile economy risks reversing the east's upswing of the past decade.
PAINFUL TRANSITION
Following German reunification in 1990, the Soviet-style science system of the former East Germany was redesigned into a modern science base (see Nature 401, 635–639; 1999). The transformation, although painful to the thousands of East German researchers who lost their jobs, was largely successful, as was the whole Aufbau Ost, a heavily subsidized programme aimed at equalizing economic and living standards in eastern and western Germany.
The Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics, Dresden.
But not everything has been levelled. Although living costs are lower in the east than in the west, so too are wages, and unemployment is worryingly higher. Also, the number of researchers per thousand in the eastern workforce (3.8) lags behind that in the west (6.0) — mainly because, according to an analysis by the German science ministry, the east still lacks the right mixture of research-intensive industries of all sizes.
But eastern Germany should no longer fear comparison with the west of the country on the strength of its academic system. The Max Planck Society, Germany's main non-university organization for basic research, for example, has set-up 20 high-profile institutes in the new Länder. Cities such as Leipzig, Halle, Jena, Dresden and Greifswald have become attractive science areas, with a good mix of university research, Max Planck institutes, other non-university institutes and science parks.
WELL-EQUIPPED
The recent investments mean that — contrary to general belief — scientists in eastern Germany often have more modern instrumentation and tools in their labs than their counterparts in the west.
Matthias Schaefer: has good equipment but little money to run it.
Eric Marois, a French microbiologist at the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics in Dresden, says that instrumentation was an attraction, not an obstacle, in his decision to move east. "We have everything you could desire," says Marois. "Our microscopes, centrifuges, animal rooms and anaesthetic stations are absolutely top-notch."
Technical and animal-care staff are plentiful and competent, he says, which he finds particularly helpful. Also, foreign researchers are assisted by a special employee who deals with bureaucratic formalities, which can be a tedious duty, particularly for those whose first language is not German.
There is some xenophobia, occasionally reported by the media, but this isn't a reason to keep away from Germany, says Marois. "There have been some incidents of violence to foreigners, but by and large the risk of being attacked on the street here is certainly no higher than in Paris or in any other big city."
Marois had the choice four years ago between doing his PhD in the United States or in eastern Germany. He chose Germany's 'wild east', which, although geographically nearer to France, culturally and scientifically seemed more distant and adventurous.
"I liked the idea of learning a new language and mentality," he says. He found the small-town charm of Halle, and later the quiet grandeur of Dresden, more favourable to creative research than the constant rush of Western or Asian capitals.
Käs agrees. He says he likes the open atmosphere of Leipzig, as well as the courage and staying power of its citizens, who precipitated the fall of the Berlin wall in autumn 1989. Now thousands of peace activists in Leipzig have revived the famous Monday demonstrations, this time against the Iraq war.
Another pleasant relic from East Germany, where it was taken for granted that women could work as well as men, is the well-functioning childcare system, which is very convenient for young researchers such as Käs who bring their family.
"I would have come here with or without the Wolfgang Paul prize," he says. "The United States is a great place to live for a while, but I really prefer that my little daughter grows up in old Europe."
There are also many scientific reasons to opt for eastern Germany, he adds. At the university's department of experimental physics, Käs is developing, among other things, a method for the early diagnosis of cancer, by testing the elasticity of cells with laser microscopes. The project involves clinical immunologists from other departments. This level of interaction with colleagues from neighbouring fields is typical in the east, says Käs. At Harvard and the University of Texas at Austin, he seldom encountered cooperation across discipline boundaries.
"If everything has gone well for decades, researchers have little need or incentive to leave their well-known territory and try something new," Käs comments. Now he is experiencing a completely different scientific spirit. "The institute structures are not yet fixed, and we are basically forced to work closely together," he says. "The borders here are all open, which leads to very productive interdisciplinary research."
STORMCLOUDS ON THE HORIZON
But the academic idyll is under threat. Germany's economic crisis has led to cuts in research budgets that are particularly painful in the east, where massive investment over the past ten years requires high running and repair costs (see Nature 420, 452; 2002).
The physics and Earth-science departments at the University of Leipzig, for example, have expensive nuclear-magnetic-resonance facilities, and a 3.5-million high-energy nanometre ion probe, one of only two of its kind in the world.
"We have almost no money left to keep our excellent equipment running," says Matthias Schaefer, the department's administrative director. The German government has promised to keep up special support of research in the east through programmes such as InnoRegio, which puts 65 million a year into regional academic–industrial research networks.
But the new Länder remain the poor cousins when it comes to large research infrastructure. In February, the federal research minister, Edelgard Bulmahn, announced a 1.6-billion investment package into four large projects, including a high-magnetic-field laboratory at the Rossendorf research centre near Dresden, the former East German centre for nuclear research (see Nature 421, 682; 2003). Researchers in the east feel they got a raw deal with the 24.5-million facility. "Almost 98% of the money remains in the west," says Frank Pobell, scientific director of the Rossendorf centre. "If you are serious about the Aufbau Ost, the east would have deserved better."
Pobell strongly regrets Germany's vote against the 1.4-billion European Spallation Source (ESS), a proposed major neutron-science facility for which Saxony had already submitted a detailed scientific outline and a site (see Nature 421, 563; 2003). "It is a unique opportunity that has been missed," he says. "The ESS would have attracted thousands of scientists each year from all over Europe. It would have given a huge boost to research over here."