Uğur Şahin

Uğur Şahin ([uːɾ ʃaː.hin]; born September 29, 1965 in Turkey) is a Turkish German oncologist and entrepreneur.[1][2] His main fields of research are cancer research and immunology.[3] He has been Professor of Experimental Oncology at the III Medical Clinic of the University of Mainz since 2006, and chairman of the board and CEO of BioNTech SE since 2008, a company that he co-founded with his wife, Özlem Türeci. Şahin is considered one of the leading COVID-19 vaccine developers.[4] In 2020, Şahin and Türeci became the first Turkish Germans among Germany's top 100 wealthiest people list.[5]

Uğur Şahin
Uğur Şahin in 2019
Born (1965-09-29) September 29, 1965
Iskenderun, Hatay, Turkey
CitizenshipGerman-Turkish
Alma mater
Occupation
  • Professor of Oncology
  • Chief Executive Officer
  • Company Founder
Years active1991–present
Employer
  • University of Cologne
  • Saarland University
  • University Hospital Zurich
  • University Medical Center Mainz
  • BioNTech
Organization
  • German Society of Immunology
  • American Association for Cancer Research
  • American Society of Clinical Oncology
Known for
Net worth$4.6 billion[1]
OfficeCEO BioNTech SE
Term2008–present
Spouse(s)
​
(m. 2002)​
Awards
  • Merit Award of the American Society of Clinical Oncology
  • Georges Köhler Prize
  • German Cancer Award
WebsiteProfile at BioNTech

Life

Uğur Şahin was born on September 29, 1965 in in Turkeyİskenderun, in the Hatay province . He moved with his mother to Germany at the age of four to live with his father, who worked in Cologne's Ford factories.[6][7] Besides soccer, he was interested in popular science books, which he borrowed from the Catholic church library. Initially, his primary school teacher recommended that he attend a Hauptschule, which would not readily have enabled him to attend university; upon intervention of his German neighbour, he went to a gymnasium instead.[8][9][10] He graduated from the Erich-Kästner-Gymnasium in Cologne-Niehl in 1984, the first child at the school with Turkish guest worker parents. He took advanced courses in mathematics and chemistry.[11]

Şahin met his future wife, Özlem Türeci, during his work at the Saarland University Hospital in Homburg, where Türeci completed her last year of studies. The couple married in 2002; they have one daughter.[12]

He and his spouse are among the hundred wealthiest people in Germany.[13] As of January 2021, Forbes estimated his net worth at $4.6 billion USD.[1]

Education

Şahin studied medicine at the University of Cologne from 1984 to 1992.[14][15] He received his doctorate in 1992 with a thesis on immunotherapy for tumor cells (bispecific monoclonal antibodies for the activation of cytostatic precursors on tumor cells), which was graded summa cum laude. His thesis supervisor was Michael Pfreundschuh. From 1992 to 1994, he studied mathematics at the Fernuniversität Hagen.[16]

Career

Şahin worked as a physician for internal medicine and hematology/oncology from 1991 to 2000 at the University Hospital of Cologne and then at the Saarland University Hospital in Homburg. He habilitated in 1999 in the field of molecular medicine and immunology. After working at the Institute for Experimental Immunology of the University Hospital Zurich in 2000, he moved to the University Medical Center Mainz. There, he has been working in various leading positions in cancer research and immunology since 2001 and has been a professor for experimental oncology at the III. medical clinic since 2006.[17]

Şahin works on identifying and characterizing new target molecules (antigens) for the immunotherapy of cancer tumors, e.g. breast cancer, prostate cancer, lung cancer, and other dangerous cancers. The aim is to develop a cancer vaccine based on ribonucleic acid (RNA), a messenger substance with genetic information that triggers a corresponding reaction of the immune system, leading to the inhibition and regression of tumors. These RNA vaccines do not cause a permanent genetic change in the genetic material of the cells. However, they are, in simple terms, dissolved again after "single-use" to form a protein. One problem is to develop a genetic engineering process so that these vaccines trigger a direct and targeted response from the immune system after injection. In developing such optimized RNA chains, Uğur Şahin and his research team have achieved remarkable success in recent years.

Şahin sees himself as an immune engineer who tries to use the body's antiviral mechanisms to treat, for example, cancer when the immune system is otherwise unable to fight it. He sees his vision in guiding the immune system to "protect us from or alleviate certain diseases."[18][19]

University Medical Center Mainz

In 2000, Şahin became head of the junior research group of the SFB 432 of the University Medical Center Mainz, and in 2003 chair of the Tumor Vaccine Center.[16][20] Since 2006 he has been a private lecturer in the Department of Experimental and Translational Oncology. In 2010, he was the founder of Translational Oncology at the University Medical Center of Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (TRON). This is a biopharmaceutical research institute that develops new diagnostic tools and drugs to treat cancer and other diseases with a high unmet medical need.[21] Its focus is on individualized medicine and cancer immunotherapy. From its foundation until September 2019, he was its scientific director.[22] Since then, he has been working as a scientific advisor and supervisor of Ph.D. students.[23] For his work in this field, Şahin was awarded the German Cancer Prize.[24][25] He is deputy director of the University Center for Tumor Diseases Mainz (UCT Mainz), founded in 2011.[26][27] The UCT Mainz is an association of all oncologically active institutions of the University Medical Center Mainz that focus on clinical oncology or oncological research.[28] In 2017, it was involved in establishing the new Helmholtz Institute HI-TRON, which is a cooperation between the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) and TRON.[29][30][31] He is one of the scientific directors of the new Helmholtz Institute.[32] During the founding ceremony, Şahin declared that he believes "cancer can be defeated in the future."[33]

Ganymed Pharmaceuticals

Şahin co-founded the company Ganymed Pharmaceuticals in 2001 with his wife, Özlem Türeci.[34] This company developed the monoclonal antibody Zolbetuximab, which is to be used against esophageal and gastrointestinal cancer.[35] In 2016, the company was sold to Astellas Pharma for an amount of at least triple-digit millions.[36] After successful Phase II studies, the drug is in Phase III as of 2020.[37][38][39] The project he led to developing innovative vaccines against cancer was one of twelve projects awarded a sponsorship prize by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research in 2006 as part of the newly created biotechnology start-up offensive (GO-Bio).

BioNTech
Headquarters of BioNTech SE in Mainz

Şahin was one of the founders of the biotechnology company BioNTech, based in Mainz, Germany, in 2008 and has been its CEO ever since.[40][41] BioNTech is focused on developing and manufacturing active immunotherapies for a patient-specific approach to the treatment of cancer and other serious diseases.[42] The main focus of his research work is the discovery of mRNA-based drugs for use as individualized cancer immunotherapies, as vaccines against infectious diseases, and as protein replacement therapies for rare diseases.[43] He holds a minority interest in the listed company.[44][45] Since April 2020, BioNTech has been researching a vaccine against the lung disease COVID-19 under Şahin and his wife Özlem Türeci, who is also a member of the company's board of directors.[46][47] Şahin holds several patents that he has filed with his company and partners.

Against the background of the debate about the distribution of a potential vaccine, Şahin stated that one key in the fight against COVID-19 is international cooperation. There is "no discussion" whether a vaccine is available only for individual countries.[48][49] The efficacy and safety of a vaccine, including side effects, must always be communicated transparently. He is committed to ensuring that this is done repeatedly and reliably to inform themselves and feel informed. Şahin is against compulsory vaccination and emphasizes the voluntary nature of the vaccination.[50] In fall 2020, he entered a partnership with the U.S. pharmaceutical company Pfizer and plans to obtain approval for a vaccine before the end of 2020.[51][52][53] In November, the company reported a 95 percent efficacy of the BNT162b2 vaccine.[54]

In 2019, Şahin was awarded the Mustafa Prize, a biennial prize for Muslims and non-Muslim scientists in Muslim countries in science and technology.[55][56]

Memberships

Şahin has been a member of the German Society of Immunology since 2004, and a member of the Program Committee of the Association for Cancer Immunotherapy (CIMT), Regulatory Research Group, Mainz, since 2008. In 2012, he was among the founders of the Cluster of Individualized Immunointervention (CI3) in Mainz.[57][58] He has been a member of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) since 2014 and of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) since 2015.[17]

Publications

The U.S. National Library of Medicine lists 345 clinical studies and other publications where Şahin was involved; he is first author of 49.[59] The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office lists several patents related to him.[60]

Awards

See also

Further reading

Notes and references
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  5. Philip Oltermann (November 10, 2020), Uğur Şahin and Özlem Türeci: German 'dream team' behind vaccine, The Guardian, archived from the original on January 17, 2021, retrieved February 6, 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. Franz Josef Wagner (October 7, 2020), "Betrifft: Wir sind Impfstoff.", B.Z. (in German), B.Z. Ullstein (234), p. 18
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  9. Rossmann, Ernst Dieter; Samsami, Behrang (December 2, 2020). "Gemeinsam denken". Der Freitag. Archived from the original on December 2, 2020. Retrieved January 30, 2021.
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