Kai Simons

Kai Simons is a Finnish professor of biochemistry and cell biology and physician, living and working in Germany. He introduced the concept of lipid rafts, and coined the term trans-Golgi network. He is the co-founder and co-organizer of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory and European Molecular Biology Organization, and initiated the foundation of Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics.

Early life and education Kai Simons is the son of a physics professor. His father convinced him to study medicine, though he originally wanted to study physics. There, he studied mechanisms of vitamin B12 absorption. He became a group leader in 1972 and was a biochemistry professor in 1971–79 at the medical faculty of this university as well as coined the term trans-Golgi network and proposed its role in protein and lipid sorting.

In 1999 he took part in setting up ELSO (later incorporated into EMBO), which later he presided over.

He was one of the initiators of establishing and building Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics in Dresden (Germany), where he moved. Formally from 1998 (beginning of MPI-CBG construction) and from 2000 he was one of five institute's directors and also a group leader there. He was a director (1998–2006) and a group leader (until 2012). Since 2006 he is a "director emeritus".

In 2012 he started-up a biotech company Lipotype GmbH, where he is a CEO. After returning from his post-doc scholarship he continued research on vitamin B12 as well as on blood plasma proteins, but soon started investigating Semliki Forest virus, focusing on its membrane and its lipid composition and their role in the virus budding and its transport, as the model for lipid and protein secretion. During this period, Simons also investigated the application of detergents in biochemistry with a special attention to their role in biological membrane research.

The virus lifecycle and how it uses components of vesicular pathways while shuttling to the cell surface, turned Simons' attention toward vesicular transport pathways and cell polarization. Applying epithelial model cells – MDCK (Madin-Darby canine kidney), he investigated lipid transport, protein sorting and their role in polarizing cells.

In these studies, he described the role of the trans-Golgi network (TGN) in protein and lipid sorting according to their destination. Simons proposed the existence of lipid microdomains in cell membranes for the first time. is second highest cited work and Simons is fourth highest cited scientist in the field of signal transduction. Kai Simons was also recognized by ISI Web of Knowledge, as one of the most cited scientist ever.

In subsequent years, Simons continued to work on the role of lipid rafts, and more generally lipids, in cell polarization and protein sorting. He was interested also in the role of lipids and protein sorting in neurodegenerative diseases, especially in Alzheimer's disease.

His scientific record includes more than 350 scientific articles, mostly in the field of biochemistry, molecular organization of the cell, and biochemistry and physiology of a cell membrane.

Considering his work from years 1996–2007 tracked until May 2009, Simons was 12th in the list of the most frequently cited scientists in the field cell biology with 90 articles and 16,299 citations.

Honours and awards Kai Simons honours and awards include:

1975 Federation of European Biochemical Society Anniversary Prize 1984 Honorary Professor, University of Heidelberg, Germany 1989 Lamport Visiting Professor (Columbia, New York) 1990 Histochemical Society Lecture 1990 Keith R. Porter Lecture, American Society of Cell Biology 1991 Anders Jahre Prize for Medical Research 1991 NICHD Lectureship in Cell Biology 1993 Carl Zeiss Lecture, German Society for Cell Biology 1994 Harvey Society Lecture 1996 Dunham Lecturer, Harvard University 1996 Foreign Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences 1997 Academia Europaea 1997 Adam Neville Lecture, University of Dundee, UK 1997 Foreign Member of the National Academy of Sciences, USA 1997 Runeberg Prize, Finland 1998 Academy of Sciences Leopoldina 1998 Choh Hao Li Memorial Lecture in Biochemical Endocrinology, University of California, Berkeley 1999 Doctor Honoris Causa, University of Oulu, Finland 2000 President of the European Life Scientist Organisation 2001 Honorary member of the German Society for Cell Biology 2001 ISI Highly cited researcher 2001 Schleiden Medal of Academy Leopoldina 2002 Hoppe-Seyler Lecture, Society of Biology and Molecular Biology Germany 2003 Albert Wander Prize, University of Bern, Switzerland 2003 Matti Äyräpää Prize, Finland 2003 Doctor Honoris Causa, University of Leuven, Belgium 2003 Honorary Professor at TU Dresden 2003 Nessim-Habif World Prize, University of Geneva, Switzerland 2004 Virchow Lecture and Medal, University of Würzburg, Germany 2005 Foundation Day Lecture, Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad, India 2005 van Deenen Medal, Utrecht, The Netherlands 2006 A.I. Virtanen Medal, Finland 2006 Honorary member of the Societas Biochemica, Biophysica et Microbiologica Fenniae 2007 Order of Merit of the Free State of Saxony 2010 Doctor honoris causa, University of Kuopio, Finland 2011 Doctor honoris causa, University of Geneva, Switzerland 2016 Robert Koch Medal 2025 Cothenius Medal

Kai Simons was and is also a member of numerous societies, committees and organisations, as well as an editor for several scientific journals.

Personal life He is married to Carola Simons and a father of three.