Thomas Bosch appointed Leopoldina member
National Academy of Sciences honours professor from Kiel University for his outstanding achievements in researching host-microbe relationships and their significance for health and disease
The German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina has appointed Thomas Bosch, Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology at Kiel University, as a new member. Founded in 1652, the Academy is one of the most renowned scientific societies in the country and has the task of providing independent and science-based policy advice on current socially relevant issues and representing German science internationally. To this end, the institution based in Halle an der Saale brings together a total of around 1700 academic members from Germany and abroad, representing almost all areas of research.
Bosch, who heads the Kiel Life Science (KLS) priority research area at Kiel University, is being honoured with this appointment in particular for his outstanding scientific successes in researching the relationships between multicellular host organisms and their microbial symbionts in a common metaorganism. The Academy also awards his commitment to the establishment of metaorganism research at Kiel University, which has been able to develop into an internationally well-connected and competitive top research location in this scientific field in recent years.
“By appointing Thomas Bosch as a member, the Leopoldina reaffirms the formative role he has played for many years as a recognised thought leader in the life sciences. In researching fundamental life processes, his achievements in understanding the interplay between host organisms and microorganisms are of great value – for our university and the scientific community as a whole. On behalf of Kiel University, I would like to congratulate Thomas Bosch on this highly deserved award,” emphasised Professor Eckhard Quandt, Kiel University’s Vice President for Research.
Outstanding scientific career in metaorganism research
Research conducted by Thomas Bosch focuses on the relationships between multicellular host organisms and their colonising microorganisms, how their symbioses are formed and maintained and how this multiorganismic interaction affects health and disease of the host. Bosch discovered, for example, that the freshwater polyp Hydra has a species-specific microbiota that is an essential component of the innate immune system and that this represents a universal principle of symbioses between animals and microbes.
Overall, his work over a period of four decades made a decisive contribution to developing new concepts and paradigms in symbiosis research and thus establishing the novel metaorganism principle in science – which views all living organisms as a unity of host organism and microbial symbionts. Together with the multicellular host organism, these symbiotic bacteria, viruses and fungi form a primarily beneficial community manifested as a metaorganism. Many life processes, including the health and disease of the host organism, can only be understood in the context of this functional co-operation between hosts and microorganisms.
Bosch was able to contribute decisive findings to this research field, which is central to modern life sciences, to advance it within the framework of international scientific cooperation and also to establish it in the Collaborative Research Centre (CRC) 1182 “Origin and Function of Metaorganisms” in Kiel. As a Leopoldina member, Bosch, who is also a Fellow of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR) in Toronto, will give more weight to this perspective in the future and incorporate its particular significance for the understanding of multicellular life into the work of the National Academy of Sciences.
About the Leopoldina:
Founded in 1652, the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina is a traditional scientific society with around 1,700 members from 30 countries and almost all scientific disciplines. In 2008, it was named Germany’s National Academy of Sciences. Independent of economic or political interests, it works scientifically on important social issues of the future, communicates the results to politicians and the public and represents these issues both nationally and internationally. It is the oldest continuously existing scientific and medical academy in the world and elects outstanding scientists as its members. Since its foundation, more than 7,000 personalities have been appointed. These include Marie Curie, Charles Darwin, Albert Einstein, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Alexander von Humboldt, Justus von Liebig and Max Planck.
Contact:
Prof. Thomas Bosch
Cell and Developmental Biology
Zoological Institute, Kiel University:
Phone: +49 431-880-4170
Email: tbosch@zoologie.uni-kiel.de
More information:
German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina:
www.leopoldina.org
Cell and Developmental Biology, Zoological Institute, Kiel University:
www.bosch.zoologie.uni-kiel.de
Priority research area Kiel Life Science (KLS), Kiel University:
www.kls.uni-kiel.de
Research program „Humans and the Microbiome“,
Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR):
cifar.ca/research-programs/humans-the-microbiome
