Prof. Dr. Matthias Ullrich

Prof. Dr. Matthias S. Ullrich, Professor of Microbiology m.ullrich@jacobs-university.de

http://www.jacobs-university.de/_ses/mullrich

My message to the Kruppies:

I wish you Kruppies all the best for your studies, lots of fun, and always the friends you want to be with. May your college be your home, castle, and your harbor. A harbor to reach new horizons  – and to finally rule your world the way you like it.

Some personal information:

I was born in East-Berlin, former capital of East Germany (GDR), in 1963. My father was a scientist (physics), my mother was a elementary school teacher. I have two brothers.

I grew up in a socialist country under more or less wealthy and good conditions. Got to get used to cooperate with others, followed rules – even if they were not favorable – became a teenager with a good sense for the socializing under restrictive conditions.

In 1982 I finished high school (Abitur) and then worked at the Zoo for a couple of months since I wanted to become a Biology student. Shortly after, I had to join the East German army for an awful long time (three years) in order to fulfill the requirements to secure my student admission.

In 1985 I started my Biology study at the Friedrich Schiller University in Jena. There I got used to microbes and fell in love not only with my later spouse (got divorced in 2002) but also with the idea to become a scientist working with infectious diseases.

In 1989/90 – while finishing my Diploma – the world changed a lot here in Germany. My professors urged me to go west – and I did. Having received one of the last highly reputed East Germany governmental scholarships for PhD students (I did not do too bad during my studies…) I decided to find my new lab in Western Germany and found a perfect one in Heidelberg.

Rushing through my PhD phase in two years, I graduated from Jena University with my new Western mentor sitting next to me in 1992. At that time, I had already secured myself a DAAD stipend to go for a postdoctoral fellowship further West – to the United States.

At this stage, my first son, Lucas, was already 1.5 years old. My second son, Tobias, was born in 1994 in Stillwater, Oklahoma. We stayed until 1996 in the Midwest – and finally I accepted a lucrative Assistant Prof. position at a Max Planck Institute in Marburg, Germany.

There I built up my own lab, established and later polished my own scientific profile and finally obtained the German degree of a “Privatdozent”, which allowed applications for professorship positions. After a heavy round of applications, I finally got accepted at four places – from which the then International University Bremen appealed to me the most.

Consequently, in September 2002 I started my full professorship here on campus. More and more I fell in love with the spirit here on campus. I will never forget the pioneering years and continuously appreciate the breed of students who come to Jacobs. You – the students – make work and life on campus pleasant and worthwhile.