On November 22, 2022, Prof. em. Dr. med. Martin Röllinghoff, one of the former presidents of the DGfI, passed away.
Martin was born during the Second World War on April 1, 1941, in Hamburg, as the oldest of four children of the medical doctors Werner and Wilhelmine Röllinghoff. While his father served as an army doctor in the German air force during the war, Martin spent his childhood with his paternal grandmother in a remote village in the Siegerland, North Rhine Westfalia. After the end of the war, the family initially returned to Hamburg and then moved to Tübingen in 1954, where Werner Röllinghoff – meanwhile trained as specialist for internal medicine - became head of the Paul Lechner-Tropical Clinic.

In Tübingen, Martin completed his school education and passed the university entrance exam (Abitur) at the Kepler Gymnasium in 1961. In the same year, he began studying human medicine in Freiburg (i. Br.), which he later continued with a semester abroad in Vienna and finally completed in Tübingen in 1967 with the state examination and a medical dissertation on the glucose and lipid metabolism. After his time as an assistant medical doctor in Lübeck, Hattingen an der Ruhr and Mainz, he took up a position as scientific co-worker at the Institute of Medical Microbiology of the University of Mainz in 1968, which by this time was headed by Professor Paul Klein. Under Paul Klein, who enjoyed a high international reputation as a complement researcher since the 1960s and became the driving force of immunological research in Germany in the 1970s and 1980s, Martin entered the field of immunology.

Initially, he worked on the biochemical purification of complement factors (C2 and C4) of the guinea pig. From 1970 until 1971, he spent his obligatory military service period at the Ernst-Rodenwald Institute of Military Medicine and Hygiene in Koblenz, where he investigated the efficacy of the influenza vaccination, the epidemiology of viral hepatitis and the Australia antigen (later known as hepatitis B surface antigen) as well as methods for the detection of the rheumatoid factor. On Paul Klein’s advice, he then applied for a training grant from the German Research Foundation (DFG), which in 1971 took him to the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute (WEHI) in Melbourne (Australia), the Mecca of immunological research at that time. At the WEHI, he worked with the research groups of Noel Warner and Sir Gustav Nossal on various tumour immunological topics, in particular on the function of lymphocytes in tumour defence.
In Australia, he also started a long-lasting cooperation with Hermann Wagner, which he continued very successfully after returning to the institute in Mainz in 1973. In 1975, he submitted his habilitation thesis on the immune reactions against syngeneic plasma cell tumours in mice.

During the following 10 years, Martin Röllinghoff and Hermann Wagner succeeded in publishing highly regarded contributions on T lymphocytes, especially on the activation and differentiation of T helper cells and cytotoxic T lymphocytes, on the functionality of T suppressor cells and on the immunosuppressive mode of action of cyclosporin A.
In 1979, Martin completed his training as a specialist in microbiology and infectious disease epidemiology. Four years later, in 1983, he moved to the Friedrich-Alexander-University (FAU) in Erlangen to take over the position as full professor for medical microbiology and director of the Institute for Clinical Microbiology and Infection Hygiene (later renamed as Institute for Clinical Microbiology, Immunology and Hygiene), where he stayed until his retirement in 2007.

Immediately after arriving in Erlangen, Martin left the field of tumour immunology, began to investigate host-pathogen interactions and became the pacemaker of infectious disease immunology research at FAU. While in the beginning his work focused on the defence mechanisms against Leishmania major parasites, later also bacteria (Yersinia enterocolitica, Salmonella enterica, Borrelia burgdorferi) and fungi (Candida albicans) became part of the institutional research portfolio through the recruitment of junior scientists. Likewise, the spectrum of immunological expertise at the institute continuously expanded to include not only T-cell immunology but also various components of the innate immune defence such as macrophages, dendritic cells and natural killer cells.

In 1990, together with his friend and companion Professor Joachim Kalden, Martin was co-founder of the Collaborative Research Centre 263 “Immunological Mechanisms in Infection, Inflammation and Autoimmunity”, in which he served as spokesperson from 1997 to 2002. He also founded and headed the Research Training Group 157 with the same name, which was funded by the DFG from 1990 until 1996.

The close interaction with Joachim Kalden led to the establishment of the Interdisciplinary Centre for Clinical Research (IZKF) at FAU and Erlangen University Hospital in 1996 as part of a highly competitive programme of the Federal Ministry of Research and Technology (BMBF). After the BMBF start-up funding expired, the IZKF Erlangen was transformed into an intramural research funding institution that still exists today and has contributed significantly to the national and international reputation of translational and clinical immunology in Erlangen.
Martin was an excellent science manager. Goal-oriented action and commitment coupled with tenacity and steadfastness characterized him. He never turned his flag to the wind. Everyone could rely on him. As a mentor, Martin preferred an almost “fatherly” way of guiding his co-workers. Demanding, encouraging and granting freedom - that was the Röllinghoff triad in training young scientists. Martin loved to discuss the progress of research work, challenging his collaborators by asking perspective questions. In the end, one always had to be prepared to be confronted with a “What are we learning from all this?” or “Where do we go from here?”. All this was accompanied by his continuous support and a great deal of cheerfulness, humor and sociability.
Martin´s scientific work over many decades has left a lasting mark on the German research landscape. His activities in the field of immunology and immunoparasitology were honoured by his induction into the National Academy of Science Leopoldina in 2001 and with the Rudolf Leukart Medal of the German Society for Parasitology in 2002. To acknowledge his tireless commitment within the medical faculty of FAU, professional societies (e.g., as president of the German Society of Immunology from 1995 to 1996 and of the German Society of Hygiene and Microbiology from 2002 to 2004), advisory boards and research funding organizations, he received the German Federal Cross of Merit with Ribbon in 2007.

Even after his retirement, Martin continued to offer his experience and knowledge in many ways, for example as a member of the Council of the University of Mainz and the University Council of Schleswig-Holstein or as member of the International Advisory Board of the Weill Cornell Medical College New York /Qatar.

Over many years, Martin Röllinghoff has inspired us as a scientist, academic teacher, institute director and friend. He encouraged numerous students and young researchers to start an academic career in immunology and microbiology. His voice and advice will be deeply missed. We will remember him with great respect and gratitude. Christian Bogdan