Özlem Türeci
Özlem Türeci in 2019
Born (1967-03-06) 6 March 1967
Siegen, West Germany
CitizenshipGermany[1]
Alma mater
Occupation(s)Physician, scientist, entrepreneur
Years active1992–present
Known for
OfficeChief Medical Officer of BioNTech SE
Term2018–present
Spouse
​
(m. 2002)​
Children1
Awards
  • Princess of Asturias Awards
  • Georges Köhler Prize
  • Werner von Siemens Ring
  • Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter Prize
  • Prix Jeantet-Collen for Translational Medicine (2022)
WebsiteProfile at BioNTech

Özlem Türeci (Turkish pronunciation: [ˈœzlem ˈtyredʒi]; born 6 March 1967) is a German physician, scientist and entrepreneur. In 2008, she co-founded the biotechnology company BioNTech, which in 2020 developed the first messenger RNA-based vaccine approved for use against COVID-19.[2] Türeci has served as BioNTech's chief medical officer since 2018.[3] Since 2021, she has been Professor of Personalized Immunotherapy at the Helmholtz Institute for Translational Oncology (HI-TRON) and Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz.[4] Türeci and her spouse, Uğur Şahin, have won a number of awards.[5]

Personal life and education

Born in Siegen, West Germany in 1967,[6] Türeci is the daughter of Turkish immigrants. Her mother was a biologist. Her father, a surgeon, was from Istanbul and worked at the Catholic hospital St. Elisabeth-Stift in Lastrup in the district of Cloppenburg.[7][8] She attended, among others, the Städtisches Gymnasium in Bad Driburg and the Werner-von-Siemens-Gymnasium in Bad Harzburg.[9] As a child, she was strongly inspired by the nuns who worked to help people at the hospital her father worked at.[10]

She studied medicine at Saarland University in Homburg and received her doctorate from the Medical Faculty of Saarland in 1992.[11] She was a Heisenberg fellow of the German Research Foundation. Her research focused on the identification and characterization of tumor-specific molecules and the development of immunotherapies against cancer.[12] In 2002, she completed her habilitation qualification at the Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz in the field of molecular medicine.

While completing her final year of studies, Türeci met her future husband, Uğur Şahin, who was working at Saarland University Hospital in Homburg.[13] They discovered that they shared an interest in using the body's immune system to fight cancer.[14][15] The couple married in 2002 and had a daughter four years later.[16][17] Although Türeci and her husband became billionaires as a result of their business interests, the family continues to live modestly.[10][18]

Due to the proposition of the Rhineland-Palatinate parliamentary group of the SPD, she will be a voting member of the 17th Federal Assembly for the 2022 German presidential election.[19]

Türeci has been an honorary citizen of the state capital Mainz since March 2022.[20]

Career

Özlem Türeci works as a medical scientist and basic researcher in the field of immunology. She researches target structures in order to develop new therapies against cancer, infectious diseases and diseases of the immune and nervous systems. One focus is on the identification and characterization of tumor-specific molecules and the development of personalized therapeutic approaches.

University Medicine Mainz

Türeci was a staff member of the University Medical Center Mainz in the special research area of immunology.[21][22] Since 2002, she has been a private lecturer there in the field of cancer immunotherapy. Together with her husband and their mentor, the immunologist Christoph Huber, she developed the concept of a "translational institute", which was realized in 2001 with the foundation of TRON, short for "translational oncology."[23][24][25] This is a biopharmaceutical research institute that develops new diagnostics and drugs for the therapy of cancer and other diseases with high unmet medical needs.[26] Two companies later founded by Türeci and her husband are spin-offs of work done at the university in Mainz.[27] Türeci accepted the appointment to the professorship for "Personalized Immunotherapy" at the University Medicine of the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz and the Helmholtz Institute "HI-TRON Mainz" founded in 2019 at the end of 2021.

Ganymed Pharmaceuticals

In 2001, Türeci and her future husband founded the company Ganymed Pharmaceuticals.[28] This company focused on a new class of cancer drugs called ideal monoclonal antibodies[29] and developed zolbetuximab, which is used to treat esophageal and gastric cancer.[30] She was chief scientific officer from 2001 to 2008 and led the company from 2008 to 2016 in the role of chief executive officer. In 2016, the company was sold to Astellas Pharma for $1.4 billion and is now a subsidiary of that company.[10][31]

BioNTech

Headquarters of BioNTech in Mainz

In 2008, Türeci, her husband, and Christoph Huber founded the Mainz-based biotechnology company BioNTech,[16][32] choosing a name derived from Biopharmaceutical New Technologies.[33] Türeci has been Chief Medical Officer (CMO) of the company since 2018.[34][35] As CMO, she is primarily responsible for Clinical Research and Development.[36] From 2009 to 2018, she served as chair of the company's scientific advisory board. Originally, the company focused on the development and manufacturing of active immunotherapies based on Messenger RNA (mRNA) and other technologies for a patient-specific approach to the treatment of cancer and other serious diseases.[16][10][23][37] Along with researchers from TRON, they hired Katalin Karikó, who had developed a way to avoid triggering an inflammatory reaction when injecting an mRNA drug.[25][38][33]

Project Lightspeed – Development of Covid-19 vaccine

Türeci and Uğur Şahin during the honorary doctorate ceremony given by the University of Cologne Faculty of Medicine, 2021

In January 2020, Türeci's husband read an article in The Lancet medical journal regarding a novel coronavirus later named COVID-19.[16][10][36] Concerned that a pandemic could be coming, the couple decided to apply the mRNA vaccine technology they had been researching for two decades to developing a vaccine against the disease,[32][18] which at the time was spreading in China.[10][25]

They convinced the American pharmaceutical company Pfizer, with whom they had previously begun working on an influenza vaccine, to help with development and distribution costs.[29] By March 2020, they had five vaccine candidates ready to test in humans, and by November 2020, results indicated that the vaccine was more than 90% effective.[16][10] The following month, the vaccine was authorized for use in Britain and the United States, and the first patient was injected at a hospital in Coventry.[32][25][29] As of February 2021, BioNTech was planning to produce 2 billion doses of their vaccine by the end of 2021.[39]

Türeci was responsible for the clinical trials in the development of the vaccine called BNT162b2 (the Pfizer–BioNTech COVID‑19 vaccine, sold under the brand name Comirnaty).[40][10][41] Türeci credits the rapid success of the project in part to international collaboration, including Pfizer and the Chinese firm Fosun Pharma.[32] BioNTech itself has staff from 60 countries.[32]

Türeci and her husband were named Financial Times People of the Year for 2020 based on their ability to produce a safe and effective vaccine for COVID-19 less than a year after the genetic sequence of the virus was released, an achievement cited as "one of the greatest medical breakthroughs of our time."[25] They also appeared on the cover of the American news magazine Time in January 2021.[18]

Current initiatives

Using funds from the successful vaccine, BioNTech plans to pursue its original goal of creating an mRNA-based cancer vaccine; Türeci remarked in March 2021 that the company had several vaccines, with the expectation of offering them to patients within 2 years.[32] Ideally, they will be able to design tailor-made therapies for individual patients. So far, they have treated over 440 patients with 17 types of tumors.[33]

In addition, BioNTech is working on an mRNA vaccine to prevent malaria and investigating the production of vaccines in Africa.[42]

Other

Türeci has filed more than 500 international patent applications and published more than 110 articles in peer-reviewed scientific journals.[34] She is internationally active as a lecturer.[43]

Business associations

Publications (selection)

Recognition

Awards

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Über zwei Wissenschaftler, die nicht nur Hoffnung gegen das Virus machen" (in German). Tagesspiegel. 26 April 2020. Retrieved 17 September 2021. Beide sind Kinder türkischer Einwanderer, deutsche Staatsbürger und weltweit angesehene Wissenschaftler. [Both are children of Turkish immigrants, German citizens, and internationally respected scientists]
  2. 1 2 "2022 Warren Alpert Foundation Prize awardees announced | Warren Alpert Foundation Prize". warrenalpert.org. 11 May 2022. Retrieved 17 July 2022.
  3. ↑ "Das Führungsteam", Homepage (in German), BioNTech, archived from the original on 10 December 2020, retrieved 30 November 2020
  4. ↑ "Özlem Türeci neue Professorin für Personalisierte Immuntherapie am HI-TRON Mainz" [Özlem Türeci new Professor for Personalized Immunotherapy at HI-TRON Mainz]. www.dkfz.de (in German). 7 December 2021. Retrieved 13 May 2022.
  5. ↑ Philip Oltermann (10 November 2020), "Uğur Şahin and Özlem Türeci: German 'dream team' behind vaccine", The Guardian, archived from the original on 17 January 2021, retrieved 6 February 2021, The comments hinted at the scientific rigour, unrelenting work ethic and appetite for entrepreneurship that has seen Sahin and Türeci's company outpace more well-established competitors in the race for a Covid-19 vaccine – and made the couple the first Germans with Turkish roots to enter their country's rich list this autumn, at number 93.
  6. ↑ "Das Forscherpaar" [The Research Couple]. interactive.spiegel.de (in German). Der Spiegel. 2021. Archived from the original on 26 February 2022. Retrieved 26 February 2022.
  7. ↑ Lastruperin ist Corona-Hoffnung: Biontech-Gründerin Türeci (in German), NDR, archived from the original on 20 March 2021, retrieved 30 November 2020
  8. ↑ Sansür, Latif (29 November 2020). "Dünyanın konuştuğu bilim insanı Türeci'nin fotoğraf albümü". Sözcu. Archived from the original on 29 November 2020. Retrieved 29 January 2021.
  9. ↑ Budde, Reinhold, Forscherin lebte in Bad Driburg (in German), archived from the original on 20 March 2021, retrieved 30 November 2020
  10. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Gelles, David (10 November 2020). "The Husband-and-Wife Team Behind the Leading Vaccine to Solve Covid-19". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 10 November 2020. Retrieved 17 November 2020. (subscription required)
  11. ↑ Türeci, Özlem, Nachweis von DNA-Polymorphismen anhand von Minisatelliten-Profilen bei Tumoren und Zellinien und Untersuchungen zur Caseinkinase 2 in der Oozyte von Xenopus laevis, archived from the original on 20 March 2021, retrieved 24 December 2020
  12. ↑ "Werte schaffen durch Innovation" (PDF), Natur & Geist-Das Forschungsmagazin der Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz, archived (PDF) from the original on 20 March 2021, retrieved 30 November 2020
  13. ↑ Stolzenberg, Tobias (2018), "Zwei gegen den Krebs", Technology Review (in German), Hannover: Heise Verlag, vol. 5, archived from the original on 20 March 2021, retrieved 26 October 2020
  14. 1 2 "The 2022 Werner von Siemens Ring goes to the BioNTech quartet and to superresolution microscopy pioneer Stefan Hell" (PDF). The Werner von Siemens Ring Foundation. 31 January 2022. Retrieved 17 July 2022.
  15. ↑ Morris, Loveday (12 November 2020). "Their coronavirus vaccine candidate has made them billionaires. This modest German Turkish couple doesn't own a car". Washington Post. Retrieved 29 June 2021.
  16. 1 2 3 4 5 Philip Oltermann (10 November 2020), "Uğur Şahin and Özlem Türeci: German 'dream team' behind vaccine", The Guardian, archived from the original on 17 January 2021, retrieved 13 April 2021, Türeci has described herself as a "Prussian Turk"
  17. ↑ Läsker, Kristina (14 January 2009), "Die Krebsforscherin", Süddeutsche Zeitung / Ausgabe München (in German), p. 18, archived from the original on 20 March 2021, retrieved 26 October 2020
  18. 1 2 3 Isaacson, Walter (11 January 2021). "mRNA Technology Gave Us the First COVID-19 Vaccines. It Could Also Upend the Drug Industry". Time. Archived from the original on 30 April 2021. Retrieved 30 June 2021. (subscription required)
  19. ↑ Landtag Rheinland-Pfalz (15 December 2021). "Drucksache 18/1875" (PDF) (in German).
  20. 1 2 "Ehrenbürger:innenwürde (Aufzeichnung)" [Award of the honorary citizenship of the state capital Mainz.]. www.mainz.de (in German). 10 March 2022. Retrieved 13 May 2022.
  21. ↑ "AG Sahin/Türeci", 14. Mainzer Sommer Uni, III. Medizinische Klinik und Poliklinik der Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz, archived from the original on 20 March 2021, retrieved 30 November 2020
  22. ↑ Priv.-Doz. Dr. med. Özlem Türeci, Internistin in 55131 Mainz, Obere Zahlbacher Straße 63 (in German), archived from the original on 20 March 2021, retrieved 30 November 2020
  23. 1 2 3 Rodríguez Fernández, Clara (9 October 2017), The Woman Developing the Next Generation of Cancer Immunotherapy, archived from the original on 14 November 2020, retrieved 30 November 2020
  24. ↑ Festakt zum Jubiläum der Uni Mainz (in German), archived from the original on 20 March 2021, retrieved 30 November 2020
  25. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Miller, Joe; Cookson, Clive (16 December 2020), "FT People of the Year: BioNTech's Ugur Sahin and Ozlem Tureci", Financial Times, archived from the original on 16 December 2020, retrieved 17 December 2020
  26. ↑ Über TRON (in German), TRON – Translationale Onkologie an der Universitätsmedizin der Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz, archived from the original on 20 March 2021, retrieved 26 October 2020
  27. ↑ Erfolgreiches "Mainzer Modell" (in German), 26 March 2015, archived from the original on 12 January 2021, retrieved 30 November 2020
  28. ↑ Miller, Joe (20 March 2020), "Ugur Sahin: The Immunologist Racing To Find a Vaccine", Financial Times, retrieved 26 October 2020
  29. 1 2 3 Saigol, Lina; Keown, Callum (4 December 2020). "Here are 5 things to know about BioNTech and the married couple behind the COVID-19 vaccine developed with Pfizer". MarketWatch. Archived from the original on 26 June 2021. Retrieved 26 June 2021. (subscription required)
  30. ↑ Stolzenberg, Tobias (8 October 2018), "Zwei gegen den Krebs", Heise Online (in German), retrieved 26 October 2020
  31. ↑ "Astellas kauft Ganymed", Transkript (in German), 28 October 2016, retrieved 26 October 2020
  32. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Jordans, Frank (19 March 2021). "Scientist behind coronavirus shot says next target is cancer". AP News. Berlin. Associated Press. Archived from the original on 20 March 2021. Retrieved 20 March 2021.
  33. 1 2 3 "mRNA science and BioNTech how a once-dismissed idea is ending the pandemic". German Center for Research and Innovation (DWIH) New York. Retrieved 29 June 2021.
  34. 1 2 3 4 Chairpersons – Cluster for Individualized Immune Intervention (Ci3) e.V., archived from the original on 14 November 2020, retrieved 30 November 2020
  35. ↑ Biontech (31 March 2020), Form 20-F, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, archived from the original on 20 March 2021, retrieved 10 November 2020
  36. 1 2 Wrede, Insa (9 November 2020). "Biontech: Mit Lichtgeschwindigkeit zum ersten Corona-Impfstoff" [Biontech: At the speed of light to the first corona vaccine] (in German). Deutsche Welle (DW). Archived from the original on 9 November 2020. Retrieved 30 November 2020.
  37. ↑ Hofmann, Siegfried; Terpitz, Katrin (16 March 2016), "Impfung gegen Krebs", Handelsblatt (in German), p. 16
  38. ↑ Kollewe, Julia (21 November 2020). "Covid vaccine technology pioneer: 'I never doubted it would work'". The Guardian. Retrieved 29 June 2021.
  39. ↑ Whiting, Kate (21 February 2021). "These 8 women in STEM are at the forefront of the world's response to COVID-19". World Economic Forum. Retrieved 30 June 2021.
  40. ↑ Hofmann, Siegfried; Wermke, Christian (23 April 2020), "Ugur Sahin und Özlem Türeci: Dieses Medizinerpaar entwickelt einen Covid-19-Impfstoff.", Handelsblatt (in German), archived from the original on 20 March 2021, retrieved 26 October 2020
  41. ↑ Özlem Türeci's research while affiliated with Helmholtz Institut Mainz and other places, archived from the original on 20 March 2021, retrieved 30 November 2020
  42. ↑ Tirrell, Meg (26 July 2021). "BioNTech's Ozlem Tureci on malaria vaccine development". CNBC. Retrieved 19 August 2021.
  43. ↑ "SPEAKERS", Science Asia Conference, archived from the original on 20 March 2021, retrieved 30 November 2020
  44. ↑ BMBF LS5 Internetredaktion, Cluster für Individualisierte ImmunIntervention (Ci3) – BMBF Spitzencluster (in German), archived from the original on 20 March 2021, retrieved 30 November 2020{{citation}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  45. ↑ Who We Are, Association for Cancer Immunotherapy CIMT, retrieved 30 November 2020
  46. ↑ Preisträger Vincenz-Czerny-Preis und deren Arbeiten (in German), Deutsche Gesellschaft für Hämatologie und Medizinische Onkologie, archived from the original on 20 March 2021, retrieved 26 October 2020
  47. ↑ Ugur Sahin, Managing Director (Science and Research) of Translational Oncology at the University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz – Tron, University of Birmingham, archived from the original on 3 May 2017, retrieved 26 October 2020
  48. ↑ "Erfolgreiche Suche nach Tumormarkern", Ärzte Zeitung (in German), Springer Medizin, 13 October 2005, archived from the original on 20 March 2021, retrieved 26 October 2020
  49. ↑ Koehler-Preis (in German), Deutsche Gesellschaft für Immunologie, archived from the original on 20 March 2021, retrieved 26 October 2020
  50. ↑ "Deutscher Nachhaltigkeitspreis: Startseite", Deutscher Nachhaltigkeitspreis (in German), archived from the original on 20 March 2021, retrieved 17 December 2020
  51. ↑ "Axel Springer Award 2021 geht an Biontech-Gründer", Die Welt, 23 December 2020, archived from the original on 20 March 2021, retrieved 23 December 2020
  52. ↑ "DESY News: Karl Heinz Beckurts Prize awarded at DESY". www.desy.de. Retrieved 16 November 2021.
  53. ↑ Princess of Asturias Award 2021
  54. ↑ "Scientists Dr. Özlem Türeci and Prof. Uğur Şahin honoured with Aydın Doğan Award". Aydın Doğan Foundation. 17 June 2021. Retrieved 19 August 2021.
  55. ↑ "EFC-Özlem Türeci and Uğur Şahin awarded 25th Aydın Doğan Award". European Foundation Centre. 22 June 2021. Retrieved 19 August 2021.
  56. ↑ "William B. Coley Award". Cancer Research Institute. Retrieved 16 November 2021.
  57. ↑ "Impfstoff-Entwickler von Biontech erhalten Zukunftspreis". Forschung & Lehre (in German). 17 November 2021. Retrieved 17 November 2021.
  58. ↑ "The Empress Theophano Prize Honours the Contribution of Science to Humankind". Theophano Foundation. 2021. Archived from the original on 29 October 2021. Retrieved 13 May 2022.
  59. ↑ "PD Dr. Özlem Türeci and Prof. Dr. Ugur Sahin: Entry in the Golden Book and Honorary Doctorate from the Faculty of Medicine". CMMC, Center for Molecular Medicine Cologne. 17 September 2021. Retrieved 4 September 2022.
  60. ↑ Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter Prize
  61. ↑ "Ehrenpromotion für Özlem Türeci und Uğur Şahin". Philipps-Universität Marburg (in German). 9 May 2022. Retrieved 17 July 2022.
  62. ↑ "The 2022 Louis-Jeantet Prize Winners". jeantet.ch. Retrieved 15 May 2022.
  63. ↑ "Four scientists receive the Novo Nordisk Prize for their combined contributions to COVID-19 mRNA vaccine". Novo Nordisk Fonden. 23 September 2021. Retrieved 17 July 2022.
  64. ↑ "UvA honorary doctorates for vaccine developers Ugur Sahin and Özlem Türeci". University of Amsterdam. 23 November 2021. Retrieved 4 September 2022.
  65. ↑ "Honorary Degrees 2022 Prof. Uğur Şahin and Prof. Özlem Türeci | Medicine and Health Sciences | University of Antwerp". University of Antwerp. 31 March 2022. Retrieved 4 September 2022.
  66. ↑ "Türeci". ORDEN POUR LE MÉRITE (in German). Retrieved 18 December 2023.

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