Prof. Dr. Michael Karas

Curriculum vitae

Prof. Dr. Michael Karas, born in 1952, studied chemistry at the University of Bonn where he received his PhD in Physical Chemistry in 1982. From 1983 to 1986 he was a postdoc in the group of Franz Hillenkamp at the Institute of Biophysics, University of Frankfurt. In 1987 he joined Franz Hillenkamp at the Institute of Medical Physics and Biophysics within the Medical Faculty at the University of Münster. Starting from 1984, first in Frankfurt and later in Münster, the development of the MALDI technique took place. In 1992, he finalized his Habilitation in Physical Chemistry. He returned to Frankfurt in 1995 as a full professor for Instrumental Analytical Chemistry. In 2001, he switched to the School of Pharmacy and is since then a professor in the Institute of Pharmaceutical Chemistry.

He is a member of ZAFES, a member of the supervisory board of Innovectis and ordinary member of the "Scientific Society on the Johann Wolfgang Goethe-University Frankfurt". He is a member of the editorial boards Journal of Mass Spectrometry and Mass Spectrometry Reviews.

M. Karas  received several scientific awards for the development of the MALDI technique (together with Franz Hillenkamp) : the Mattauch-Herzog award of the Arbeitsgemeinschaft Massenspektrometrie(today DGMS) (1990), the award of the American Society for Mass Spectrometry (ASMS) for "A distinguished Contribution in Mass Spectrometry" (1997), the "Molecular Bioanalytics" award from the GBM (german society for biochemistry and molecular biology) (2000), the ABRF (Association of Biochemical Research Facilities) award for "Recognition of the outstanding contribution to biomolecular technologies" (2003), the Fresenius Award of the GDCh (2003), the Karl-Heinz Beckurts Award (2003), the Torbern Bergman Medal of the Swedish Chemical Society (Analytical Devision) (2006) and the Thomson Medal of the International Mass Spectrometry Society (2006).