Klaus Cichutek

Biography

Klaus Cichutek was born on 26th February 1956 in Recklinghausen and grew up in Oer-Erkenschwick in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. He is the President of the Paul-Ehrlich-Institut. Prof. Cichutek is a biochemist and extra-ordinary Professor of Biochemistry at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University of Frankfurt/Main, Germany. After finishing his university studies (1976-1981) with a diploma and receiving his Ph.D. in biochemistry at the Westfälische Wilhelms-University Münster in 1984, he was granted a fellowship by the DFG (Deutsche Forschungsgesellschaft, German Research Society) and the University of California in Berkeley, U.S.A. where he worked in the Virus Laboratory as a postdoctoral scientist from 1985 to 1988. Since 1988 Prof. Cichutek has been working at the Paul-Ehrlich-Institut as a scientist. From 1988 to 1994 he was the head of the 'Molecular Biology' Research Group followed by his nomination as head of the Medical Biotechnology Division in 1994 which he directed until 2011.

Research Interest

His  research activities focus on the following areas: biomedicines including advanced therapy medicinal products and DNA/live vector vaccines, gene therapy (e.g. viral vectors, stem cell gene transfer), retrovirology with the emphasis on HIV/SIV immunopathogenesis and AIDS.