FRINK Linked Data Fragments server

Matches in SemOpenAlex for { <https://semopenalex.org/work/W1970761344> ?p ?o ?g. }

• W1970761344 abstract "It was an early experiment in his private life that taught cell biologist Kai Simons how helpful cooperation can be. His wife Carola, a dentist, his sister Majlen, his brother-in-law, cell biologist Ari Helenius, and he lived in the same house, not only sharing the babysitter for their five children but also taking turns to go home from work at four o'clock to play with the children. In experimental sciences, there are few alternatives to teamwork, Kai Simons feels, and it's a principle that he'll apply as director of a new Max Planck Institute that opens in 2000.Simons knows just how decisive the input of colleagues can be. Deep inside, he knew that the work he had done for his thesis in Helsinki, and especially as a postdoc at Rockefeller University in New York, was perhaps below the standard he was capable of achieving. But it was only when he stayed for a short period at the Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, UK that Brian Hartley told him frankly: “This is all rather trivial.” Whereas the project on Semliki forest virus that the young Finnish postdoc had just started looked very interesting. This clear statement opened Simons’ eyes.The virus led him onto a track he is still pursuing today. First, together with Leevi Kaariainen and Ossi Renkonen, he wanted to find out how the viral membrane is assembled. The next phase, together with Henrik Garoff and Ari Helenius, was to analyse how the virus gets in and out of its host cell. He later asked why enveloped viruses leave an epithelial cell either from the apical or the basolateral surface. What causes this cell surface asymmetry and how is it generated? These were the questions that soon brought him from virology to cell biology.When Kai Simons was asked to join the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg in the mid-1970s, it was a big challenge for him. At first he was concerned that his family would miss the quiet woods and waters of Finland. But to their great surprise, in the Odenwald near Heidelberg they could walk for hours without seeing anybody else.As coordinator of the Cell Biology Programme at EMBL, Kai Simons assembled people with overlapping intellectual and methodological skills. Finding the right balance between a loose leadership, teamwork and individual perspectives was hard. He learned a lot by making mistakes but stuck to the conviction that if you want to do good research you need cooperation. “Kai is a superb catalyst for exchanging scientific ideas,” says neurobiologist Wieland Huttner, who was also a group leader at EMBL.And this approach has brought dividends. His group revolutionized the traditional view of the cell membrane, which had been envisaged as a homogeneous two-dimensional solvent for proteins. Simons suggested that glycolipids form raft-like structures that carry proteins to the apical side of membranes. Once positioned in the membranes the rafts — whose logs are tied together by cholesterol — act like dynamic platforms which move within the membrane. They can assemble signalling molecules and transduce signals into the cell. “When you think a decisive step in your work was your idea, you can be sure it was Kai who put you on the track,” says former PhD student Peter Scheiffele.Simons also places a strong emphasis on having fun. One of the more memorable lab parties was for Kathryn Howell's leaving, when the male group leaders performed a striptease in her honour. “Next day we were ranked; but unfortunately I was low on the list,” Simons recalls.Figure 1Figure 1Figure 1Kai Simons (left) catalysing teamwork in the labView Large Image | View Hi-Res Image | Download PowerPoint SlideAlthough he grew up in a scientific environment — his father was a physicist — as a medical student living at the edge of Europe Simons had no idea where the centres of excellence were. That's why he has initiated the European Life Sciences Organization, which will be launched later this year. One of its main aims will be to organize big international conferences with reasonable fees in Europe, so that graduate students and postdocs can participate and meet the big names.In the year 2000 Kai Simons will move east in Germany, to Dresden, as primus inter pares director of the new Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics. With Wieland Huttner, Tony Hyman and Marino Zerial he is eager to make the institute a special centre in central Europe.Simons wants to follow the EMBL mode of operation and, in addition, he hopes to recruit many women group leaders at the institute. Another initiative is to create a biotech company in the midst of the institute. The idea is to nurture the academic and commercial cultures side by side. The architecture of the institute — designed by two Finnish architects with a lot of input from the leading quartet — will be a visible sign of the scientists’ philosophy. Overlooking the river Elbe, it is meant to symbolize the open-mindedness and team-spirit of the people working there." @default.
• W1970761344 created "2016-06-24" @default.
• W1970761344 creator A5036999367 @default.
• W1970761344 date "1998-09-01" @default.
• W1970761344 modified "2023-10-17" @default.
• W1970761344 title "Kai Simons: tying things loosely together" @default.
• W1970761344 doi "https://doi.org/10.1016/s0960-9822(07)00406-x" @default.
• W1970761344 hasPubMedId "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9740809" @default.
• W1970761344 hasPublicationYear "1998" @default.
• W1970761344 type Work @default.
• W1970761344 sameAs 1970761344 @default.
• W1970761344 citedByCount "0" @default.
• W1970761344 crossrefType "journal-article" @default.
• W1970761344 hasAuthorship W1970761344A5036999367 @default.
• W1970761344 hasBestOaLocation W19707613441 @default.
• W1970761344 hasConcept C111919701 @default.
• W1970761344 hasConcept C17744445 @default.
• W1970761344 hasConcept C199539241 @default.
• W1970761344 hasConcept C2777106239 @default.
• W1970761344 hasConcept C2778983918 @default.
• W1970761344 hasConcept C2780430339 @default.
• W1970761344 hasConcept C2780938662 @default.
• W1970761344 hasConcept C41008148 @default.
• W1970761344 hasConcept C52119013 @default.
• W1970761344 hasConcept C74916050 @default.
• W1970761344 hasConcept C86803240 @default.
• W1970761344 hasConcept C95457728 @default.
• W1970761344 hasConceptScore W1970761344C111919701 @default.
• W1970761344 hasConceptScore W1970761344C17744445 @default.
• W1970761344 hasConceptScore W1970761344C199539241 @default.
• W1970761344 hasConceptScore W1970761344C2777106239 @default.
• W1970761344 hasConceptScore W1970761344C2778983918 @default.
• W1970761344 hasConceptScore W1970761344C2780430339 @default.
• W1970761344 hasConceptScore W1970761344C2780938662 @default.
• W1970761344 hasConceptScore W1970761344C41008148 @default.
• W1970761344 hasConceptScore W1970761344C52119013 @default.
• W1970761344 hasConceptScore W1970761344C74916050 @default.
• W1970761344 hasConceptScore W1970761344C86803240 @default.
• W1970761344 hasConceptScore W1970761344C95457728 @default.
• W1970761344 hasLocation W19707613441 @default.
• W1970761344 hasLocation W19707613442 @default.
• W1970761344 hasOpenAccess W1970761344 @default.
• W1970761344 hasPrimaryLocation W19707613441 @default.
• W1970761344 hasRelatedWork W1981337585 @default.
• W1970761344 hasRelatedWork W2006519770 @default.
• W1970761344 hasRelatedWork W2017673937 @default.
• W1970761344 hasRelatedWork W2061542922 @default.
• W1970761344 hasRelatedWork W2064901328 @default.
• W1970761344 hasRelatedWork W2096678084 @default.
• W1970761344 hasRelatedWork W2151322853 @default.
• W1970761344 hasRelatedWork W3129601942 @default.
• W1970761344 hasRelatedWork W4236969087 @default.
• W1970761344 hasRelatedWork W4251850506 @default.
• W1970761344 isParatext "false" @default.
• W1970761344 isRetracted "false" @default.
• W1970761344 magId "1970761344" @default.
• W1970761344 workType "article" @default.