Georg Peters came from a simple farming background.[3][4] He studiedhuman medicine at theUniversity of Cologne, where he passed the state examination in 1975 and received his doctorate in 1976. After professional stations at the Children's HospitalNorderney and at the Clinic for Internal Medicine II at the University Hospital Cologne, he worked for several years at the Institute for Medical Microbiology and Hygiene at the University of Cologne, first as a research assistant, later as a senior physician.[5] In 1982, he was recognised as a specialist in microbiology and infection epidemiology in Cologne and went to theUniversity of Minnesota in Minneapolis for one year on ascholarship by theGerman Research Foundation (DFG).[4] In 1985 he habilitated and was awarded a C2 professorship at the University of Cologne in 1986.[5] In 1992 he was appointedfull professor at the University of Münster and has since headed the Institute for Medical Microbiology there.
The focus of his scientific research was staphylococci and the diseases they cause. His findings on thepathogenesis of foreign body-associated infections bycoagulase-negative staphylococci and their ability to formbiofilms are considered groundbreaking. His first publication on this topic dates back to 1982, and he consistently championed the diagnosis, prophylaxis and therapy of infections caused bymulti-resistant pathogens, such as in particular themethicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus strains, the so-called MRSA.[5][6] His reputation in this field was reflected, among other things, in his election as vice-president (1991) and president (1993) of the "Gordon Research Conference on Staphylococcal Diseases".[5]
Peters was a member of theCells in Motion (CiM) Cluster of Excellence at the University of Münster as Principal Investigator since 2012.[3][7]
He was able to inspire young academics to research pathogens and was awarded the teaching prize by the students of the Medical Faculty of the University of Münster several times.[3][8]
Peters fought with dedication for the expansion of medical microbiology and infectious medicine in Germany.[3][8]
In memory of Peters, the Paul Ehrlich Society for Chemotherapy has established a "Georg Peters Lecture" at its annual Bad Honnef Symposium on Infectious Diseases.[9] The German Society for Hygiene and Microbiology (DGHM) held a "Georg Peters Memorial Lecture" at its 71st Annual Meeting in Göttingen,[10] and theEuropean Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ESCMID) held a "Georg Peters Memorial Session" on coagulase-negative staphylococci at the 29th European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases (ECCMID) in Amsterdam.[11]
Georg Peters, R. Locci, G. Pulverer:Adherence and growth of coagulase-negative staphylococci on surfaces of intravenous catheters. In:J Inf Dis. 146, 1982, S. 479–482.doi:10.1093/infdis/146.4.479
E. D. Gray, Georg Peters, M. Verstegen, W. E. Regelmann:Effect of extracellular slime substance from Staphylococcus epidermidis on the human cellular immune response. In:Lancet. 1(8373), 1984, S. 365–367.doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(84)90413-6.
C. Breitkopf, D. Hammel, H. H. Scheld, Georg Peters, K. Becker:Impact of a molecular approach to improve the microbiological diagnosis of infective heart valve endocarditis. In:Circulation. 111(11), 2005, S. 1415–1421.doi:10.1161/01.CIR.0000158481.07569.8D
R. A. Proctor, C. von Eiff, B. C. Kahl, K. Becker, P. McNamara, M. Herrmann, Georg Peters:Small colony variants: a pathogenic form of bacteria that facilitates persistent and recurrent infections. In:Nat Rev Microbiol. 4(4), 2006, S. 295–305.doi:10.1038/nrmicro1384
R. A. Proctor, A. Kriegeskorte, B. C. Kahl, K. Becker, B. Löffler, Georg Peters:Staphylococcus aureus small colony variants (SCVs): A road map for the metabolic pathways involved in persistent infections. In:Front Cell Infect Microbiol. 4, 2014, S. 99.doi:10.3389/fcimb.2014.00099
Peters is listed as an author or co-author of more than 250 peer-reviewed publications in the Medline database PubMed from 1987 to 2021.[16]
