Rolf Müller (molecular biologist)
Professor Rolf Müller (born August 13, 1953) is a German molecular biologist whose research focuses on tumor biology and translational oncology. From 1987 to 2019, he served as a full professor (W3) of Molecular Biology at Philipps University of Marburg. Subsequently, he held the Senior Professorship for Translational Oncology funded by the Anneliese Pohl Foundation at the same university until the end of 2025.[1]
Professional career and achievements
From the outset of his scientific career, Müller’s research centered on oncogenic intra- and intercellular signaling mechanisms.
After studying biology at Ruhr University Bochum (Diploma, 1972), Müller earned his doctorate in 1979 at the University of Essen under the supervision of Manfred Rajewsky, working on the repair of alkyl-modified DNA (PMID 6850601). From 1981 to 1983, he was a postdoctoral fellow at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, USA, in the laboratory of Inder Verma. There, he made a seminal discovery by demonstrating the expression of proto-oncogenes in specific tissues during prenatal mouse development, including Fos, Fms, Kras, and Abl (PMID 6877368, PMID 6308423, PMID 6641714).
He subsequently became a group leader at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg. At EMBL, he showed that Fos is functionally associated with specific differentiation processes (PMID 6541297, PMID 6479151, PMID 3887183), is induced as part of an immediate early response to growth factors (PMID 6334806), and forms the transcription factor AP-1 through heterodimerization with Jun (PMID 2506451, PMID 2494459, PMID 2492453), thereby acting as a master regulator of the cellular response to external stimuli.
In 1987, he completed his habilitation in molecular and cell biology and, in the same year, accepted a professorship in tumor research at the University of Marburg. There, he expanded his research on intracellular signal regulation to include the cell cycle regulator Cyclin D1, phase-specific gene regulation during the cell cycle, and the ligand-regulated transcription factor PPARβ/δ. Among other findings, he demonstrated that Cyclin D1—unlike classical cyclins—is not regulated in a cell cycle phase-specific manner but is induced by mitogens during the transition from G0 to G1 (PMID 8389378), and he discovered a novel mechanism of gene regulation in the G2 phase of the cell cycle (PMID 7828585, PMID 8599118). Furthermore, his research group demonstrated the oncogenic potential of PPARβ/δ in vivo (PMID 17641685, PMID 23208498), developed highly efficient, bioavailable antagonists against PPARβ/δ in a collaborative project (PMID 22369181), and uncovered a new role of PPARβ/δ in macrophages (PMID 25934804, PMID 25398837).
In recent years, a particular focus has been on translational research into human ovarian carcinoma in close collaboration with the Department of Gynecology at Marburg University Hospital. This work has concentrated on the role of tumor-associated macrophages (PMID 23784932) and on elucidating the intercellular signaling network within the tumor microenvironment. Of particular interest was the identification of survival-associated protein and lipid mediators, including several cytokines (PMID 27215396, PMID 31588238, PMID 34841720), the adhesion molecule BCAM (PMID 36647260), the lipid mediator lysophosphatidic acid (LPA) (PMID 37064875), and the unsaturated fatty acid arachidonic acid (PMID 33391540).
In addition to his research activities, Müller taught in the degree programs in medicine and human biology and held various positions in academic administration. Since 2013, he has headed the Center for Tumor and Immunobiology (ZTI) in Marburg, whose establishment he significantly supported. From 2010 to 2022, he served as Vice Dean for Research of the Faculty of Medicine, and from 2000 to 2019, he was Director of the Institute for Molecular Biology and Tumor Research (IMT).
He was involved in several Collaborative Research Centers (SFB) funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG), including as spokesperson for SFB 215 (“Tumor and Endocrinium”), SFB 397 (“Multifactorial Nucleoprotein Complexes”), the DFG Research Unit “Transcriptional Control of Cell Differentiation,” and the DFG Priority Program “Cell Cycle Control.” From 2008 to 2012, he coordinated the LOEWE research focus “Tumor and Inflammation.”
Müller is the author or co-author of more than 250 scientific publications. For his work on the regulation of gene expression by oncogenic signaling pathways and on cell cycle control, he received several awards, including the Robert Koch Promotion Prize (1987), the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize of the DFG (1991), and the German Cancer Prize (2000). In 1990, he was elected a member of the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO).
References
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Rolf-Mueller