Prof. Dr. Kurt von Figura

Personal details:

Academic background:

1963 – 1969
Degree in Medicine at the universities of Tübingen and Vienna
1969 – 1970
Medical intern (Bad Wildungen, Tübingen and Munich)
1970
Graduation to Dr. med. (University of Tübingen)
1971 – 1986
Physiological-Chemical Institute of the University of Münster, scientific assistant (1972-1976), senior assistant (1976/77), Wissenschaftlicher Rat [civil servant lecturer] / Professor C3 (1977-1986)
1975
Habilitation at the University of Münster
1986 - 2004
Professor for Biochemistry (C4) at the Centre for Biochemistry and Molecular Cell Biology, dept.Biochemistry II, of the Faculty of Medicine of the Georg-August-University Göttingen
1989
Commencement in the Faculty of Biology of the Georg-August-University Göttingen through co-opting
1992
Offered a professorship for Biochemistry (C4) at the University of Heidelberg (declined)
2005 – 2010
President of the Georg-August-University Göttingen

Distinctions:

University of Göttingen, inter-departmental functions:

Speaker of the Graduate College “Signal-mediated transport of proteins and vesicles” (1990 – 1996)
Speaker of the SFB 523 “Protein and membrane transport between cellular compartments” (since 1996)
Managing Director of the Centre for Biochemistry and Molecular Cell Biology (1989-1991, 1997-1999 and 2002-2004)
Managing Director of the Göttingen Centre for Molecular Bioscience (1999 – 2003)
Member of the Senate of the University of Göttingen (1999 – 2003)
Head of the International MSc/Ph.D course “Molecular Biology” (2000 – 2004)

Head of the International MSc/Ph.D course “Molecular Biology” (2000 – 2004)

German Research Association

Max-Planck-Society

Member of the specialist committee of the Max-Planck-Institute for Biochemistry, Martinsried (1994 – 2001)
Member of the research field committee “Neurobiology of the Max-Planck-Society“ (1999 – 2000)
Member of the board of trustees of the Max-Planck-Institute for biophysical chemistry, Göttingen (since 2004)
Member of the board of trustees of the Max-Planck-Institute for experimental medicine (since 2004)

Helmholtz Society

Member of the board of trustees of the Max-Delbrück-Centre for Molecular Medicine “Berlin-Buch” (since 2003)

BMBF

Alexander von Humboldt Foundation

Member of the selection committee for the Humboldt and F.W. Bessel research prizes (since 2001)

Universities

Member of the Scientific Council of the Centre of Molecular Biology of the University of Heidelberg (ZMBH) (1998 – 2002)
Council of the Interdisciplinary Centre for Clinical Research of the University of Münster (IZKF) (since 2000)
Member of the Scientific Council of the Centre for Molecular Neurobiology of the University of Hamburg (ZMNH) (since 2001)
Council of the Rudolf-Virchow-Centre for Experimental Biomedicine/DFG Research Centre, University of Würzburg (since 2002)
Council of the Rudolf-Virchow-Centre for Experimental Biomedicine/DFG Research Centre, University of Würzburg (since 2002)

Miscellaneous

Member of the administrative council of the GlaxoSmithKline Foundation (formerly SmithKline Beecham Foundation) (since 1991)
Member of the board of trustees of the Association of German Naturalists and Doctors (1997 – 2001)
Member of the expert group University Planning of the State of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania (2001 – 2002)
Member of the expert group “Structural reform in the Medical Faculties of Berlin’s Universities” (2002)
Member of the working group “Structures supporting research and teaching in university medicine” of the Scientific Council (since 2001)

Editorial Work