Franz Hillenkamp | |
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| Born | (1936-03-18)March 18, 1936 Essen, Germany |
| Died | August 22, 2014(2014-08-22) (aged 78) Münster, Germany |
| Known for | Laser microprobe mass analyzer Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization |
| Awards | Distinguished Contribution in Mass Spectrometry(1997) Thomson Medal(2003) Karl Heinz Beckurts Award(2003) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Chemistry |
| Institutions | University of Münster |
Franz Hillenkamp (March 18, 1936 – August 22, 2014) was a German scientist known for his development of thelaser microprobe mass analyzer[1][2] and, withMichael Karas,matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI).[3][4][5]
Franz Hillenkamp was born in 1936 inEssen, Germany. He attended high school inLünen, graduating in 1955. He received a M.S. degree in electrical engineering fromPurdue University in 1961. He received a Ph.D. (Dr.-Ing.) from theTechnische Universität München in 1966 with a thesis entitled “An Absolutely Calibrated Calorimeter for the Measurement of Pulsed Laser Radiation.”
Hillenkamp was a professor atGoethe University Frankfurt in Frankfurt from 1982 to 1986. In 1986, he became a professor on the Medical Faculty of theUniversity of Münster where he remained until his retirement in 2001.
In 1973, Hillenkamp developed a high performancelaser microprobe mass spectrometer with a spatial resolution of 0.5 μm and sub-attogram limit of detection forlithium atoms.[6] This instrument was commercialized as the LAMMA 500[7] and was one of the first laser desorption mass spectrometers to be used formass spectrometry imaging of tissue.[5] The later LAMMA 1000 was also based on a Hillenkamp design.[8]
In 1985, Hillenkamp and his colleagueMichael Karas used a LAMMA 1000 mass spectrometer to demonstrate the technique ofmatrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI).[9] MALDI is anionization method used inmass spectrometry, allowing the analysis of largebiopolymers. Although Karas and Hillenkamp were the first to discover MALDI, Japanese engineerKoichi Tanaka was the first to use a similar method in 1988 to ionize proteins[10] and shared the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2002 for that work.[11] Karas and Hillenkamp reported MALDI of proteins a few months later.[12] The MALDI method of Karas and Hillenkamp subsequently became the much more widely used method.[13]
In 1997, Hillenkamp and Karas were awarded theAmerican Society for Mass Spectrometry Distinguished Contribution in Mass Spectrometry award for their discovery of MALDI.[14] Hillenkamp and Karas received the Karl Heinz Beckurts Award, Germany's most important award for outstanding promotion of the partnership between science and industry, in 2003.[15][16] Hillenkamp received the Thomson Medal from theInternational Mass Spectrometry Foundation in 2003.[17]
SPIE, the international society for optics and photonics created a postdoctoral fellowship in honor of Franz Hillenkamp. The SPIE-Franz Hillenkamp Postdoctoral Fellowship in Problem-Driven Biomedical Optics and Analytics offers an annual grant of US $75,000. This fellowship aims to facilitate the translation of cutting-edge biomedical optics and biophotonics technologies into practical applications within clinical settings, ultimately contributing to advancements in human healthcare.
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