Obituary – Doris Wedlich

It is with great sadness that we were told that Prof. Dr. Doris Wedlich passed away unexpectedly on September 20, 2020. As a member of the Scientific Advisory Board, Doris Wedlich accompanied and shaped the development of the DWI - Leibniz Institute for Interactive Materials since 2013.

Doris Wedlich was Professor of Zoology and from 2009 until her retirement in February 2020 Head of Division I at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT). Here she was responsible for the scientific disciplines of biology, chemistry, and process engineering.

In her research, she mainly focused on the molecular understanding of cell migration. Her team made important contributions to the elucidation of the mode of action of the so-called Wnt signaling pathway, whose activation by gene mutation is now considered a reliable indicator of colorectal cancer. For her research, Doris Wedlich was awarded the Merckle Research Prize and the Research Prize of the State of Baden-Württemberg, among others. In 2009, she received a Hector Fellowship as a top researcher in the MINT subjects.

From 2012 to 2018, Doris Wedlich was a member of the German Science Council, the most important research policy advisory body in Germany. She was intensively involved in the Council of the Research Data Alliance, a globally active organization for the protection and free use of scientific data. Together with her partners, she has worked with great commitment and enthusiasm to promote the establishment of the National Research Data Infrastructure (NFDI).

She left us much too early. With her passing, not only DWI’s Scientific Advisory Board but also the entire institute loses an important advocate and valuable advisor. Our thoughts are with the relatives and our memories of Doris Wedlich.