Michael Molls

CV

Michael Molls studied medicine at the University of Freiburg, Germany. After registration as a medical doctor (approbation) he worked for nearly two years for the Federal Labor Office of Germany, practicing occupational medicine in the former Yugoslavia and in Istanbul, Turkey (1972-1974). From 1974 to 1976 he was resident at the Institute of Pharmacology of the University of Freiburg. His experimental studies on anaphylactic shock led to first high-ranking publications and to the doctorate as Dr. med. Between 1977 and 1991 he specialized in radiobiology and radiotherapy/radiooncology at the University Hospital Essen. Michael Molls' experimental and clinical research enabled postdoctoral degrees (habilitation) in both disciplines.

From 1992 to 2014, Michael Molls was Professor and Director of the Clinic for Radiotherapy and Radiation Oncology at the "Klinikum rechts der Isar" hospital of the Technical University of Munich (TUM). He served as a member of the Board of Management and the Supervisory Board at the University Hospital (TUM), and as head of the Munich Tumor Center of both Ludwig-Maximilians-University (LMU) and TUM. His particular interest was to ensure the highest quality in the oncology health care structures in the region of Munich and Upper Bavaria. During the time of his presidency at the German Society of Radiation Oncology and head of its academy, he established a curriculum for specialization in radiation treatment according to European standards. In cooperation with the German Cancer Society, he introduced interdisciplinary guidelines for the treatment of cancer patients.

In 1976/1977 Michael Molls established the in vitro cultivation of mouse preimplantation embryos (stem cells) aboratory at the Institute of Radiation Biology and Physics of the University Hospital Essen (director: Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Dr. h.c. Christian Streffer). In initial studies, early embryonic development was compared under in vitro and in vivo conditions. Extensive radiation and cell biology experiments were performed under in vitro conditions. The embryos were exposed to X-rays, neutrons, and tritium (tritiated water, tritiated thymidine) as well as to combinations of radiation with pollutants (e.g., lead, cadmium) or cytostatic drugs (cyclophosphamide, cis-platinum). In summary, the investigations enabled important findings concerning early embryonic development, cytogenetic damage, altered cell proliferation, mechanisms of cell death, and cellular repair. Teratogenic effects were studied after in vitro irradiation of two cell embryos in the G2 phase of the cell cycle. Microsurgical implantation of the irradiated embryos into the uteruses of mice surrogate mothers made it possible to observe further development up to the time of delivery.

The radiobiological results of the Molls group received high international attention. From 1984 on, the experimental and clinical research of the Molls group resulted in pioneering publications on 1) oxygenation, blood perfusion and biological heterogeneity of malignant tumors, 2) individualized radiotherapy planning based on imaging with computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, positron emission tomography and ultrasound, 3) high precision radiotherapy in terms of radiosurgery, stereotactic radiotherapy (brain metastases, primary brain tumors, primary lung carcinomas in early stages, liver metastases) and intensity modulated as well as image guided radiotherapy (mammary, prostate carcinoma), 4) combination of radiotherapy with cytostatic agents or hyperthermia, 5) quality of life of patients after radiotherapy, 6) in vitro irradiation (cell cultures) with laser generated protons and with protons of extremely high dose rate.

After retirement (2014), Michael Molls became a member of the International Scientific Advisory Board of the German National Center for Tumor Diseases. In 2016, he was elected as the chairperson of the TUM Senior Excellence Faculty (SEF), with a seat on the TUM Extended Board of Management. Since April 2020, he serves as Director of the TUM Institute for Advanced Study (IAS), and since 2021 he is a board member of the International Graduate School of Science and Engineering (IGSSE) at TUM. In recent years, the scientific interests of Michael Molls shifted toward the topic of sustainability. His related activities are manifold, including the organization of symposia and book editions. In 2016, he founded the TUM Forum Sustainability with colleagues from SEF, TUM IAS and the Institute for Earth System Preservation (IESP) at IAS.

In total, he is the author of more than 500 publications and editor of textbooks, monographs and book series. He supervised 14 habilitations (professorial teaching qualification processes) as well as many medical (MD) and scientific (PhD) doctorates. A total of eight university professors and clinic directors have emerged from Michael Molls' school.

 

Short biography

1965-1971	Study of medicine and licensing examination, University of Freiburg
1972-1974	Occupational medicine in Turkey (Istanbul) and former Yugoslavia
1975-1976	Assistant at the Institute of Pharmacology, doctorate, experi­mental study on “Anaphylactic Shock and Treatment in Guinea Pigs”, University of Freiburg
1977-1991	Assistant and consultant at the Institute for Radiation Biology and at the Radiation Clinic of the Essen University Clinic. Habilitation and Venia legendi (university instruction licence) for embryology, radiation biology and radiation therapy
1992-2014	Professor and director of the Radiation Therapy and Radiation Oncology Clinic at the “Klinikum rechts der Isar” (TUM university hospital)
2008-2010	Head of the European Radiation Biology Project CARDIORISK (7th Framework Program of the EU)
2010-2016	Co-spokesperson of the DFG cluster of excellence "Munich Center for Advanced Photonics"
since 2016	Speaker of the “TUM Senior Excellence Faculty” (group of the “TUM Emeriti of Excellence”) and member of the “TUM Ex­tended Board of Management”
since 2020	Director of the “TUM Institute for Advanced Study” (IAS)

Professional Positions

• Member of the German (DEGRO) and European (ESTRO) Societies for Radiooncology and other scientific societies
• Member of 1) expert commissions (German Science Council "Wissenschaftsrat", German Research Foundation DFG, Helmholtz Society, federal and state ministries), 2) advisory boards of oncological clinics and institutions, 3) editorial boards of national and international scientific journals in the field of radiation biology, medical physics, clinical oncology
• Member of the Board of the Section of Radiation Oncology of the German Radiological Society (1993-1995)
• Member of the Board (1994-2011) and Vice President (2003-2011) of the Bavarian Cancer Society
• Member of the Board (1994-2011) and President (1997-1999) of the German Society for Radiation Oncology (DEGRO)
• Member of the Instrumentation Committee (1996-2000) and Member of the Academic Directorate (1996-2003) of the TUM research reactor
• Member of the Board (1997-2003) and Chairman (2001-2003) of the Tumor Center of the medical faculties and clinics of LMU and TU Munich
• Chairman of the Steering Committee "medical technology" of the Technical University of Munich (1998)
• Member of the Board (1999-2003), Member of the Advisory Board (2003-2009) at the “Klinikum rechts der Isar” (TUM university hospital)
• President of the Academy for Advanced Training and Continuing Education of the German Society for Radiation Oncology (DEGRO) (2004-2009)
• Member of the Review Boards “cancer research” and “medical technology” of the DFG (2007-2012)
• Member of the Peer Review College of the Danish Council for Strategic Research (2008)
• Head of the european radiation biology project CARDIORISK (EU 7th framework programme) (2008-2011)
• Member of the Board of Management (from 2006), Co-spokesperson (2010-2016) for the cluster of excellence “Munich Centre for Ad­vanced Photonics” (MAP) of the German Research Foundation (DFG)
• Co-speaker and responsible for biomedicine of the federally/state funded projecte "Centre for Advanced Laser Applications" (CALA) at LMU and TUM (2010)
• Member of the International Academic Advisory Board for the "ELI Beamlines Facility", Prague (Extreme Light Infrastructure, European Project) (2010-2016)
• Member of the Board of Directors of the Centre for Advanced Laser Applications (CALA) at LMU and TUM (2012-2016)
• Member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the National Center for Tumor Dis­eases (NCT) (since 2015)
• Spokesperson for the TUM Senior Excellence Faculty (since 2016)

 

Awards

• Hanns Langendorff Prize (1979)
• Member of the German National Academy of Sciences “Leopoldina” (since 1998)
• President of the joint annual congress of the German and Austrian Societies of Radiation Oncology and the German Society for Medical Physics (2000)
• Honorary member of the Austrian Society of Radiation Oncol­ogy (ÖGRO) (2004)
• Honorary award of the Munich Tumour Centre (2007)
• Chairman of the “Alfred Breit Award” committee of the German Society of Radiation Oncology and the German Society for Radiology (since 2013)
• TUM Emeritus of Excellence (2013)
• Honorary Member of the German Society for Radiation Oncology (DEGRO) (2014)
• Paul Harris Fellow, Rotary (2017)
• Dr. h. c. Cyprus University of Technology (2019)
• Dr. h.c. of the Dimitrie Cantemir Christian University Bukarest (2021)
• Member of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts (2021)

You can download "Explanations of honors and awards" here [PDF 215 KB]

 

Key publications

Vaidya JS, et al.: “Targeted intraoperative radiotherapy versus whole breast radiotherapy for breast cancer (TARGIT-A trial): an international, prospective, randomised, non-inferiority phase 3 trial”. Lancet. 2010; 376: 91-102. (Publikation unter Beteiligung der Gruppe Molls)

Zimmermann FB, Geinitz H, Schill S, Thamm R, Nieder C, Schratzenstaller U, Molls M: “Stereotactic hypofractionated radiotherapy in early stage I (T1-2 N0 M0) non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC)”. Acta Oncol. 2006; 45: 796-801.

Geinitz H, Zimmermann FB, Thamm R, Schumertl A, Busch R, Molls M: “3D conformal radiation therapy for prostate cancer in elderly patients”. Radiother Oncol. 2005; 76: 27-34.

Grosu AL, Weber WA, Franz M, Stärk S, Piert M, Thamm R, Gumprecht H, Schwaiger M, Molls M, Nieder C: „Reirradiadition of recurrent high-grade gliomas using amino acid PET (SPECT)/CT/MRI image fusion to determine gross tumor volume for stereotactic fractionated radiotherapy”. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. 2005; 63(2): 511-9.

Cornforth MN, Greulich-Bode KM, Loucas BD, Arsuaga J, Vasquez M, Sachs RK, Brückner M, Molls M, Hahnfeldt P, Hlatky LR, Brenner DJ: “Chromosomes are predominantly located randomly with respect to each other in interphase human cells”. J Cell Biol. 2002; 159: 237-244.

Molls M, Streffer C, van Beuningen D, Zamboglou N: “X-irradiation in G2-phase of 2-cell mouse embryos in vitro: cleavage, blastulation, cell kinetics and fetal development”. Radiation Research. 1982; 91: 219-234.