Professor Dr Katja Becker

Research Priorities: Infectious diseases, malaria, tumor diseases, redox networks, enzyme systems, oxidative stress, antioxidant protective mechanisms, rational drug design
Katja Becker is a physician and biochemist. Her research focuses on developing new medications against malaria. She does this by characterising cellular networks that are responsible for reduction-oxidation (redox) reactions, as well as precisely analysing the enzymes of malaria parasites. Katja Becker has been President of the German Research Foundation (DFG) since 1 January 2020, the first female scientist to occupy the position.
Tropical malaria poses a threat to almost half of the global population. One challenge facing medicine is the increasing resistance of the parasite Plasmodium falciparum to existing drugs. Katja Becker studies cellular networks in search of potential new drug targets. Her main focus is on redox reactions, which form the basis for energy storage and conversion in physical bodies. The process involves one substance losing electrons (oxidation) and another gaining them (reduction). Her most important research characterises the redox networks of humans, the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster and the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum.
The malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum is particularly vulnerable to the toxic effect of oxidative and nitrosative stress. Human cells, on the other hand, have developed a series of antioxidant systems with which they react to and protect themselves against toxic substances. The enzyme systems thioredoxin reductase (TrxR) and glutathion reductase (GR) play a special role in the cells’ “line of defence” against oxidative stress. These enzymes are considered highly promising target molecules for drug development. Katja Becker managed to elucidate these molecular systems and recognised their therapeutic importance. The aim of her approach, known as rational drug design, is to develop anti-infective agents to tackle infectious diseases, such as tropical malaria.
Continuing work begun during research stays abroad, Katja Becker also promotes global connections in science, for example via training for doctoral students from Africa, as well as mentoring young female academics. During her first term (2020 to 2023) as President of the German Research Foundation (DFG), she placed great emphasis on tackling the coronavirus pandemic and achieving a united response among scientific organisations to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Her second term, which began in 2024, will focus on boosting the international competitiveness of German universities and on the internationalisation of the German scientific and academic system. In 2021 she was elected Chair of the Governing Board of the Global Research Council (GRC) for two years.