Holder of the Rolf Sammet Endowed Visiting Professorship 2025 at Goethe University gives public lecture for interested citizens
When cells activate which genes is the central research topic of Patrick Cramer, President of the Max Planck Society. As part of his Rolf Sammet Endowed Visiting Professorship at Goethe University, Cramer talks about how genes are regulated and how disruptions to these processes contribute to diseases.
Although DNA contains the blueprint of life, this blueprint must be read and – in a precisely coordinated temporal manner – translated into proteins to allow life to unfold. Some of these proteins form part of cellular structures, but most act as enzymes that initiate biochemical reactions. In this way, they enable metabolism and communication, growth, and the many specialized tasks that cells perform in higher organisms.
Nothing less than this “system of life” is the research field of Prof. Patrick Cramer, a chemist and structural biologist, Director at the Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences and, since 2023, President of the Max Planck Society. Following the elucidation of the three-dimensional structure of RNA polymerase II, he and his laboratory made numerous fundamental contributions to understanding gene transcription in higher – eukaryotic – cells, which make up plants, animals, and humans. His research group combines modern structural biology with functional analyses of the interplay of all genes in order to understand how genes are switched on and off and how disruptions of these processes contribute to disease.
Shortly after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, his team revealed how the SARS-CoV-2 virus replicates its genetic material in human cells by characterizing the structure of the SARS-CoV-2 polymerase. In doing so, Cramer and his laboratory laid the basis for the development of antiviral therapies.
The Rolf Sammet Endowed Visiting Professorship includes a series of lectures: Following the lecture on the awarding of the visiting professorship on January 15, Patrick Cramer gave a lecture for students and another for scientists on January 16 at the Riedberg campus. This will be followed by a lecture for medical professionals at the Niederrad campus on February 12. To conclude the visiting professorship, Patrick Cramer will speak at the biopharmaceutical company Sanofi in the Höchst Industrial Park on February 13. The public lecture of the Rolf Sammet Visiting Professorship is aimed at interested citizens.
Lecture for the general public
„Wie Gene funktionieren“ (in German)
Patrick Cramer, President of the Max Planck Society
Thursday, 12th February 2026, 18:00
Lecture Hall 3, Otto-Stern-Zentrum
Ruth-Moufang-Str. 2, 60438 Frankfurt (Riedberg Campus)
Visit the event page (in German) →
The Rolf Sammet Endowed Visiting Professorship, endowed by the Aventis Foundation, is one of the oldest endowed visiting professorships at Goethe University. It was established in 1985 by Hoechst AG in honor of its long-standing CEO, Prof. Rolf Sammet, who had also been an honorary professor at Goethe University since 1975. Since January 2015, it has been continued independently by the university. The Aventis Foundation has endowed the Rolf Sammet Foundation Fund at Goethe University with one million euros for this purpose. Each year, an internationally renowned scientist in the field of natural sciences is invited to Frankfurt to present his or her field of research and current work in a compact form.
Program of the Rolf Sammet Endowed Visiting Professorship 2025 →
Contact:
Prof. Dr. Dieter Steinhilber
Institut of Pharmaceutical Chemistry
Goethe University Frankfurt
Tel.: +49 (0)69 798-29324
Steinhilber@em.uni-frankfurt.de
