Technische Universität München

Horst Kessler was born in Suhl, Thuringia. He studied chemistry in Leipzig and Tübingen. He received his diploma in chemistry in 1963 and he was awarded his Ph.D. in 1966. He earned both degrees at University of Tübingen (dissertation: “Kupfersalz-katalysierte Reaktionen von Diazomethan mit Aromaten”).
Three years later he qualified as a professor (Habilitation) in Organic Chemistry (topic: „Nachweis innermolekularer Beweglichkeit durch NMR-Spektroskopie“). From 1971 to 1988 Kessler worked as Full Professor at J.W. Goethe University in Frankfurt/Main at the Department of Organic Chemistry.
The next twenty years he spent at the Technische Unversität München as Full Professor at the Department of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry.
Since October 2008 he is a Carl von Linde Professor (Emeritus Professor of Excellence) at the Institute for Advanced Study at TUM. Kessler has also held visiting appointments at several universities in Halifax, Tokyo, Madison, Haifa, Austin and Jerusalem. Moreover he holds several honorary posts and is member of the Editorial Board of renowned chemical journals.

2009 Honory Member of the Israel Chemical Society

2008 Josef Rudinger Award, European Peptide Society

2005 Burkhardt Helferich Award

2002 Vincent Du Vigneaud Award, American Peptide Society

2002 Hans-Herloff Inhoffen Medal

2002 Honorary doctoral degree, University of Leipzig

2002 Member German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina

2001 Max-Planck-Research Award

1997 Emil Fischer Medal

1996 Member Bavarian Academy of Science

1988 Max-Bergmann-Medal for Peptide Chemistry

1986 Otto-Bayer-Award

More publications are available here.

E. Biron, J. Chatterjee, O. Ovadia, D. Langenegger, J. Brueggen, D. Hoyer, H. Schmid, R. Jelinek, C. Gilon, A. Hoffman, H. Kessler, Improved Oral Bioavailability of Peptides via N-Methylation: Somatostatin Analogs, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2008, 47, 2595-2599.

D. Heckmann, A. Meyer, L. Marinelli, G. Zahn, R. Stragies, H. Kessler; Probing Integrin Selectivity: Rational Design of Highly Active and Selective Ligands for the a5b1 and avb3 Integrin Receptor. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2007, 46, 3571-3574.

A. Meyer, J. Auernheimer, A. Modlinger, H. Kessler; Targeting RGD Recognizing Integrins: Drug Development, Biomaterial Research, Tumor Imaging and Targeting; Curr. Pharm. Des. 2006, 12, 2723-2747.

U. Hersel, C. Dahmen, H. Kessler; RGD modified polymers: biomaterials for stimulated cell adhesion and beyond; Biomaterials 2003, 24, 4385-4415.

R. Haubner, H.-J. Wester, W.A. Weber, C. Mang, S.I. Ziegler, S.L. Goodman, R. Senekowitsch-Schmidtke, H. Kessler, M. Schwaiger; Noninvasive Imaging of avb3 Integrin Expression Using 18F-labeled RGD-containing Glycopeptide and Positron Emission Tomography; Cancer Res. 2001, 61, 1781-1785.

M.A. Dechantsreiter, E. Planker, B. Mathä, E. Lohof, G. Hölzemann, A. Jonczyk, S.L. Goodman, H. Kessler; N-Methylated Cyclic RGD Peptides as Highly Active and Selective avß3 Integrin Antagonists; J. Med. Chem. 1999, 42, 3033-3040.

H. Kessler, H. Oschkinat, C. Griesinger, W. Bermel; Transformation of Homonuclear Two-Dimensional NMR Techniques into One-Dimensional Techniques Using Gaussian Pulses; J. Magn. Reson. 1986, 70, 106-133.

H. Kessler, C. Griesinger, J. Zarbock, H. R. Loosli; Assignment of Carbonyl Carbons and Sequence Analysis in Peptides by Heteronuclear Shift Correlation via Small Coupling Constants with Broadband Decoupling in t1 (COLOC); J. Magn. Reson. 1984, 57, 331-336.

H. Kessler; Conformation and Biological Activity of Cyclic Peptides; Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 1982, 21, 512-523.

H. Kessler; Detection of Hindered Rotation and Inversion by NMR Spectroscopy; Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 1970, 9, 219-235.

The following topics represent the core of Kessler’s research: rational design of molecules on the basis of conformation, the synthesis and structure of peptides and peptidmimetica and the development and application of NMR-techniques and calculation methods for the identification of molecule structures.