Volker Haucke
Volker Haucke (born 29 June 1968 in Berleburg, now Bad Berleburg, Germany) is a biochemist and cell biologist. He is Director of the Leibniz-Forschungsinstitut für Molekulare Pharmakologie Berlin (FMP) Berlin and Professor of Molecular Pharmacology at the Institute for Pharmacy of the Free University of Berlin. Biography. Volker Haucke studied biochemistry at the Free University of Berlin and at the Biozentrum of the University of Basel (1989-1994) as a scholar of the German National Merit Foundation Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes. In 1997, he was awarded a PhD ("summa cum laude") in biochemistry by the University of  Basel (Biozentrum) for his work in the laboratory of Gottfried Schatz on the mitochondrial protein import machinery. From 1997 to 2000 he was a postdoctoral fellow in the research group Pietro De Camilli at Yale University School of Medicine and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) funded by long-term fellowships from the Human Frontier Science Programme Organization (HFSP) and the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO). Since 2000 he led an independent research group funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft at the Centre for Biochemistry and Molecular Cell Biology at the University of Göttingen. In 2003, he became chair of the  Department of Membrane Biochemistry at the Free University of Berlin. Since 2007, he is a member of the NeuroCure Cluster of Excellence. Haucke was spokesperson of the Collaborative Research Centres (SFB) 449 (Structure and Function of Membrane Integral Receptors, 2008-2010) and 958 (Scaffolding of Membranes - Molecular Mechanisms and Cellular Functions, 2011–2012, since 2012 Deputy Spokesperson.) Since 2012, Volker Haucke is Director of the Leibniz-Forschungsinstitut für Molekulare Pharmakologie (FMP) in Berlin and Professor (W3-S) of Molecular Pharmacology at the Freie Universität Berlin. At the FMP, he heads the Department of Molecular Pharmacology and Cell Biology. From 2008 to  2016 he was an elected member of the review board biochemistry of the German Research Foundation (DFG) and from 2007 to 2012 a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Biological Chemistry. He is currently a member of the editorial boards of EMBO Reports and Biology of the Cell, a member of the scientific advisory board of the open access platform Matters as well as a member of Faculty of 1000. For his work, he has received numerous awards. Since 2014 Haucke is an elected member of the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) and since 2017 a member  of the National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina. In 2017 he received the Avanti Award of the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB) and was awarded funding within the Reinhart-Koselleck program of the DFG. Volker Haucke is married and has two daughters. Research interests. Volker Haucke and his group study endocytosis and exocytosis, the uptake of substances into and their release from cells via membrane-bound vesicles, especially in nerve cells. A further focus of his research is the elucidation of the mechanisms of intracellular membrane traffic in the endosomal and lysosomal system and its control by specific  membrane lipids, so-called phosphoinositides. A specific focus of his research is the development of tools that target these processes and the development of high-resolution light microscopy techniques, with which these processes can be visualized directly in cells. His most important discoveries include the dissection of the mechanisms that control the recycling of neurotransmitter-containing synaptic vesicles and the development of the first selective inhibitors of clathrin-based cellular uptake processes. Moreover, Volker Haucke and his team have been able to identify signaling lipids and the enzymes that metabolize them that are of central importance for cellular transport processes  and for the question of membrane identity, and, thus, the function of intracellular compartments. Loss or impairment of the activity or function of these enzymes can result in severe diseases that range from inherited muscle disorders via cancer to neurological and neurodegenerative disorders.