:Harald zur Hausen

Zur Hausen was born in Gelsenkirchen{{cite web | url = http://www.science-connections.com/profiles/hausen/zh-cv%20August%202008.pdf | title = Curriculum vitae | website = science-connections.com | date = 2007 | access-date = 1 June 2023 }} in a Catholic family. He completed his Abitur at Antonianum Grammar School in Vechta, then studied medicine at the universities of Bonn from 1955, Hamburg from 1957, and Düsseldorf from 1958, and received a Doctor of Medicine degree there in 1960. He pursued internships in Wimbern, Isny, Gelsenkirchen, and Düsseldorf, qualifying as a physician in 1962.

He joined the Institute for Microbiology at the University of Düsseldorf as a laboratory assistant in 1962. After three and a half years there, he moved to Philadelphia to work at the Virus Laboratories of Children's Hospital of Philadelphia together with eminent virologists Werner and Gertrude Henle,{{cite web |url=https://www.nlm.nih.gov/hmd/manuscripts/ead/henle.html |title=Henle, Werner and Gertrude. Papers |access-date=27 May 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090804142718/http://www.nlm.nih.gov/hmd/manuscripts/ead/henle.html |archive-date=4 August 2009 }} who had escaped from Nazi Germany. In 1967, he contributed to a ground-breaking study that for the first time proved a virus (Epstein–Barr virus) can turn healthy cells (lymphocytes) into cancer cells.{{cite journal|last=Henle |first=Werner |title=Herpes-Type Virus and Chromosome Marker in Normal Leukocytes after Growth with Irradiated Burkitt Cells | Science |doi = 10.1126/science.157.3792.1064 |pmid=6036237 |date=1 September 1967 |volume=157 |issue=3792 |journal=Science |pages=1064–1065|s2cid=30764560 }} He became an assistant professor at the University of Pennsylvania in 1968. In 1969, he returned to Germany to become a regular teaching and researching professor at the University of Würzburg's Institute for Virology. In 1972, he moved to the University of Erlangen–Nuremberg. In 1977, he moved on to the University of Freiburg (Breisgau), where he headed the Department of Virology and Hygiene.

Working with Lutz Gissmann, zur Hausen first isolated human papillomavirus 6 by simple centrifugation from genital warts. He isolated HPV 6 DNA from genital warts, suggesting a possible new way of identifying viruses in human tumours. This discovery paid off several years later, in 1983, when zur Hausen identified HPV 16 DNA in cervical cancer tumours by means of Southern blot hybridization.{{cite journal|author=M Dürst |author2=L Gissmann |author3=H Ikenberg |author4=H zur Hausen |title=A papillomavirus DNA from a cervical carcinoma and its prevalence in cancer biopsy samples from different geographic regions |journal=PNAS | volume=80 |issue=12 |pages=3812–3815 |date=1 June 1983 |doi=10.1073/pnas.80.12.3812|pmid=6304740 |pmc=394142 |bibcode=1983PNAS...80.3812D |doi-access=free }} This was followed by the discovery of HPV18 a year later,{{cite journal|url=http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/picrender.fcgi?artid=557488&blobtype=pdf |format=PDF |title=A new type of papillomavirus DNA, its presence in genital cancer biopsies and in cell lines derived from cervical cancer |date=1984 |access-date=17 October 2016 |pmc=557488 |pmid=6329740 |volume=3 |issue=5 |pages=1151–7 | last1 = Boshart | first1 = M | last2 = Gissmann | first2 = L | last3 = Ikenberg | first3 = H | last4 = Kleinheinz | first4 = A | last5 = Scheurlen | first5 = W | last6 = zur Hausen | first6 = H | journal=EMBO J.|doi=10.1002/j.1460-2075.1984.tb01944.x }} thus identifying the causes of approximately 75% of human cervical cancer. The announcement of his breakthrough sparked a major scientific controversy.{{cite encyclopedia | url = https://www.britannica.com/biography/Harald-zur-Hausen | title =

Harald zur Hausen / German virologist | date =

June 2023 | access-date = 1 June 2023 }}

From 1983 until 2003, zur Hausen served as chairman of the board and scientific advisory board member of the German Cancer Research Center (Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, DKFZ) in Heidelberg and as professor of medicine at Heidelberg University.{{cite web |url=http://www.uni-heidelberg.de/univ/nobel.html |title=Nobelpreisträger – Universität Heidelberg |access-date=8 February 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081225081327/http://www.uni-heidelberg.de/univ/nobel.html |archive-date=25 December 2008 }}

From 2007 to 2011, zur Hausen was a member of the scientific advisory board of Zukunftskolleg at the University of Konstanz.{{cite web | url = https://www.leopoldina.org/fileadmin/redaktion/Mitglieder/CV_zur_Hausen_Harald_D.pdf | title = Curriculum Vitae Prof. Dr. Harald zur Hausen | date = 28 May 2023 | language = de | access-date = 1 June 2023 | work = Leopoldina }} He was editor-in-chief of the International Journal of Cancer until the end of 2010.{{Cite journal |last=zur Hausen |first=Harald |date=1 July 2002 |title=Volume 100 of theInternational Journal of Cancer |journal=International Journal of Cancer |language=en |volume=100 |issue=1 |pages=1 |doi=10.1002/ijc.10499 |s2cid=221775223 |issn=0020-7136|doi-access=free }} On 1 January 2010, zur Hausen became the vice president of German Cancer Aid (Deutsche Krebshilfe), the largest cancer charity in Europe.

Zur Hausen's field of research was the study of oncoviruses. In 1976, he hypothesised that human papillomavirus plays an important role in causing cervical cancer. Together with his collaborators, he then identified HPV16 and HPV18 in cervical cancers in 1983–84. This research made possible the development of the HPV vaccine, the first formulation of which was commercialised in 2006. He is also credited with discovery of the virus causing genital warts (HPV 6) and a monkey lymphotropic polyomavirus that is a close relative to a recently discovered human Merkel cell polyomavirus, as well as of techniques to immortalise cells with Epstein–Barr virus and to induce replication of the virus using phorbol esters. His work on papillomaviruses and cervical cancer received a great deal of scientific criticism when first published but subsequently was confirmed and was used as the basis for research on other high-risk papillomaviruses.

Zur Hausen shared the 2008 Nobel Prize in Medicine with Luc Montagnier and Françoise Barré-Sinoussi, for his discovery of human papilloma virus (HPV) causing cervical cancer {{cite web |url=http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/2008/ |title=The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2008 |access-date=6 October 2008 |publisher=Nobelprize.org |date=6 October 2008 }} 2008 Nobel Prize winner "for his discovery of human papilloma viruses causing cervical cancer"

The award of the 2008 Nobel Prize to zur Hausen became controversial following the revelation that Bo Angelin, a member of the Nobel Assembly that year, also sat on the board of AstraZeneca, a company that earns patent royalties for HPV vaccines.{{cite news|url=http://news.sciencemag.org/scienceinsider/2008/12/a-nobel-prize-f.html|title=A Nobel Prize for Overblown Controversy?|last=Cohen|first=Jon|date=15 December 2008|work=Science Insider|publisher=American Association for the Advancement of Science|access-date=27 July 2012|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130614070051/http://news.sciencemag.org/scienceinsider/2008/12/a-nobel-prize-f.html|archive-date=14 June 2013}} The controversy was exacerbated by the fact that AstraZeneca had also entered into a partnership with Nobel Web and Nobel Media to sponsor documentaries and lectures to increase awareness of the prize. However, colleagues widely felt that the award was deserved,{{Cite journal | last1 = Cohen | first1 = J | last2 = Enserink | first2 = M | doi = 10.1126/science.322.5899.174 | title = HIV, HPV Researchers Honored, but One Scientist is Left Out | journal = Science | volume = 322 | issue = 5899 | pages = 174–175 | year = 2008 | pmid = 18845715| s2cid = 206582472 | doi-access = free }} and the secretary of the Nobel Committee and Assembly issued a statement affirming that Bo Angelin was unaware of AstraZeneca's HPV vaccine patents at the time of the vote.

Zur Hausen had three sons from his first marriage, Jan Dirk, Axel and Gerrit. In 1993, he married Ethel-Michele de Villiers, who at the time was a fellow researcher at the German Cancer Research Center, and who in prior years had co-authored many research journal articles with zur Hausen on papilloma virus and genital cancer, dating as far back as 1981.{{cite journal |vauthors=zur Hausen H, de Villiers EM, Gissmann L |title=Papillomavirus infections and human genital cancer |journal=Gynecol Oncol |volume=12 |issue=2 Pt 2 |pages=S124–8 |date=October 1981 |pmid=6273261 |doi=10.1016/0090-8258(81)90067-6 |url=}} He acknowledged her research contributions and support in his Nobel Prize biography.{{cite web |url=https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/medicine/2008/hausen/biographical/ |title=The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2008: Harald zur Hausen |last= |first= |date=2008 |website=The Nobel Prize |access-date=1 February 2023}}

Zur Hausen died on 29 May 2023, at age 87.{{cite news | last = Müller-Jung | first = Joachim | title = Sein Ansatz war die radikale Krebsprävention | newspaper = FAZ | date = 30 May 2023 | url = https://www.faz.net/aktuell/wissen/krebspionier-harald-zur-hausen-mehr-forschergeist-geht-auf-keine-kuhhaut-18928021.html | language = de | access-date = 31 May 2023}}{{Cite web|title=Nobel laureate Harald zur Hausen has passed away|url=https://www.dkfz.de/en/presse/pressemitteilungen/2023/dkfz-pm-23-31-Nobel-laureate-Harald-zur-Hausen-has-passed-away.php|access-date=29 May 2023|work=DKFZ|date=29 May 2023 }}{{cite news | title=Nobelpreisträger Harald zur Hausen ist tot | website=Die Zeit | date= | url=https://www.zeit.de/wissen/2023-05/krebsforscher-nobelpreis-medizin-harald-zur-hausen | language=de | access-date=29 May 2023 | last1=Heflik | first1=Katharina }}{{cite web | title=Medizin-Nobelpreisträger Harald zur Hausen gestorben | website=ZDFmediathek | date=29 May 2023 | url=https://www.zdf.de/uri/256c6e60-9cca-4619-a8b9-236e1f0718b0 | language=de | access-date=29 May 2023}}{{cite web | title=Traueranzeige von Harald zur Hausen | language=de | url=https://lebenswege.faz.net/traueranzeige/harald-zur-hausen | access-date=12 July 2023}}

• {{cite book |last=Zur Hausen |first=Harald |title=Infections Causing Human Cancer |publisher=Wiley-VCH |publication-place=Weinheim |date=2006 |isbn=3-527-31056-8 |oclc=160074602}}

• Robert Koch Prize (1975){{cite web |title=Awards |url=https://www.robert-koch-stiftung.de/en/awards |website=Robert-Koch-Stiftung |access-date=17 October 2022}}
• Lila and Murray Gruber Memorial Cancer Research Award from the American Academy of Dermatology (1985){{cite web |title=Lila and Murray Gruber Memorial Cancer Research Award and Lectureship |url=https://www.aad.org/member/career/awards/gruber |website=aad.org |publisher=American Academy of Dermatology Association |access-date=17 October 2022}}
• Charles S. Mott Prize (1986){{cite journal |title=Charles S. Mott prize papillomaviruses in human cancer |journal=Cancer |date=15 May 1987|doi=10.1002/1097-0142(19870515)59:10<1692::AID-CNCR2820591003>3.0.CO;2-F |last1=Hausen |first1=Harald Zur |volume=59 |issue=10 |pages=1692–1696 |pmid=3030526 |s2cid=71987233 |doi-access=free }}

• Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter Prize (1994){{cite web |title=Prize Winners of the Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter Prize |url=https://www.uni-frankfurt.de/49897732/PE-Broschuere-260214-engl-A-Web.pdf |website=uni-frankfurt.de |publisher=The Paul Ehrlich Foundation |access-date=17 October 2022}}
• International member of the American Philosophical Society (1998){{Cite web|title=APS Member History|url=https://search.amphilsoc.org/memhist/search?creator=Harald+zur+Hausen&title=&subject=&subdiv=&mem=&year=&year-max=&dead=&keyword=&smode=advanced|access-date=3 December 2021|website=search.amphilsoc.org}}

• Science of Oncology Award from the American Society of Clinical Oncology (2014){{cite web |title=All Award Recipients |url=https://www.asco.org/special-awards/all?award=13 |publisher=American Society of Clinical Oncology |access-date=17 October 2022}}
• Mike Price Gold Medal Award from The European Association for Cancer Research (2014){{cite web |title=Previous winners of the Mike Price Gold Medal Award |url=https://www.eacr.org/mike-price-award/previous-winners |website=eacr.org |publisher=The European Association for Cancer Research |access-date=17 October 2022}}

• Member of the Academia Europaea (1990){{Cite web |title=Academy of Europe: Hausen Harald |url=https://www.ae-info.org/ae/Member/Hausen_Harald |access-date=5 August 2022 |website=www.ae-info.org}}
• Member of the American Philosophical Society (1998){{Cite web |title=APS Member History |url=https://search.amphilsoc.org/memhist/search?creator=Harald+zur+Hausen&title=&subject=&subdiv=&mem=&year=&year-max=&dead=&keyword=&smode=advanced |access-date=5 August 2022 |website=search.amphilsoc.org}}
• Honorary Member European Academy of Sciences and Arts (2008)
• International member of the National Academy of Sciences (2009){{Cite web|title=Harald zur Hausen|url=http://www.nasonline.org/member-directory/members/20004084.html|access-date=3 December 2021|website=www.nasonline.org}}
• Foreign Member of the Finnish Society of Sciences and Letters (2010){{Cite book |title=SPHINX Yearbook 2010-2011 |publisher=Societas Scientiarum Fennica |year=2011 |location=Helsinki}}

• Honorary Fellow of the World Hellenic Biomedical Association (2013){{cite web |title=Honorary Fellows of the World Hellenic Biomedical Association |url=http://www.whba1990.org/honorary-fellows.html |website=WHBA |publisher=World Hellenic Biomedical Association |access-date=17 October 2022}}
• Fellow of the American Association for Cancer Research (2013){{cite web |title=Harald zur Hausen, MD – Class of 2013 |url=https://www.aacr.org/professionals/membership/aacr-academy/fellows/harald-zur-hausen-md/ |access-date=17 October 2022 |website=aacr.org |publisher=American Association for Cancer Research}}
• Honorary Member of the German Society of Virology (2013){{cite web |title=Honorary members |url=https://g-f-v.org/en/ehrenmitglieder/ |publisher=German Society of Virology |access-date=17 October 2022}}
• Corresponding member of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts (June 2015){{cite web |url=http://www.sazu.si/en/novice/novi-clani-slovenske-akademije-znanosti-in-umetnosti.html |title=Novi člani Slovenske akademije znanosti in umetnosti |trans-title=The New Members of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts|website=Sazu.si |date=June 2015|access-date=17 October 2016}}
• Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (2017)

Zur Hausen received almost 40 honorary doctorates and numerous honorary professorships, including degrees from the universities of Chicago, Umeå, Prague, Salford, Helsinki, Erlangen-Nuremberg, Ferrara, Guadalajara and Sal.{{cite web | title = Prof. Dr. med. Dr. h.c. mult. Harald zur Hausen / Nobelpreisträger für Medizin 2008 | url = https://www.dkfz.de/en/zurhausen/index.html | access-date = 1 June 2023 | work = DKFZ }}

{{Reflist}}

• {{cite web | title=Harald zur Hausen | website=science-connections.com | url=http://www.science-connections.com/profiles/hausen/hausen.html | language=de | access-date=2 June 2023}} (interview, CV, publications)
• {{cite book |last=Cornwall |first=Claudia Maria |title=Catching Cancer: The Quest for its Viral and Bacterial Causes |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield Publishers |publication-place=Lanham |date=2013 |isbn=978-1-4422-1522-1 |oclc=834582359}}
• {{cite book | last=Morgan | first=Gregory J | title=Cancer Virus Hunters: A History of Tumor Virology | publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press | publication-place=Baltimore | date=2022 | isbn=9781421444017 | oclc=1276804549|chapter=Planned Practical Playoffs: Harald zur Hausen, Jian Zhou, Ian Frazer, Douglas Lowy, John Schiller, HPV, and the Cervical Cancer Vaccine}}

{{Commons category}}

{{Scholia}}

• [http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/2008/hausen-lecture.html Zur Hausen Nobel Prize lecture]
• {{Nobelprize}}
• [https://www.dkfz.de/de/presse/veroeffentlichungen/nobel-Broschuere_web.pdf Harald zur Hausen / Nobelpreis für Medizin 2008] (in German) DKFZ 2008

{{2008 Nobel Prize winners}}

{{Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine Laureates 2001-2025}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hausen, Harald zur}}

Category:1936 births

Category:2023 deaths

Category:Academic staff of the University of Würzburg

Category:Academic staff of the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg

Category:Academic staff of the University of Freiburg

Category:Academic staff of Heidelberg University

Category:Members of the European Molecular Biology Organization

Category:Members of the German Academy of Sciences at Berlin

Category:International members of the American Philosophical Society

Category:Members of the National Academy of Medicine

Category:Members of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts

Category:People from Gelsenkirchen

Category:Cancer researchers

Category:German virologists

Category:German medical researchers

Category:German Nobel laureates

Category:People from the Province of Westphalia

Category:Nobel laureates in Physiology or Medicine

Category:Papillomavirus

Category:University of Bonn alumni

Category:University of Hamburg alumni

Category:Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf alumni

Category:Knights Commander of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany

Category:Recipients of the Order of Merit of Baden-Württemberg

Category:University of Pennsylvania faculty

Category:Infectious causes of cancer

Category:Foreign associates of the National Academy of Sciences