Werner Franke | |
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| Born | (1940-01-31)31 January 1940 |
| Died | 14 November 2022(2022-11-14) (aged 82) |
| Education | Heidelberg University (PhD) |
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| Known for | Cytoskeleton,doping in sport |
| Spouse | Brigitte Berendonk |
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Werner Wilhelm Franke (31 January 1940 – 14 November 2022) was a German biologist and a professor ofcell andmolecular biology at theGerman Cancer Research Center inHeidelberg. He was an anti-doping pioneer in Germany.
Franke was born inPaderborn on 31 January 1940.[2] After completing high school (Abitur atGymnasium Theodorianum), he studied chemistry, biology and physics at theUniversity of Heidelberg.[1] Following completion of his doctorate (Heidelberg) andhabilitation (Freiburg) he became a university professor in Heidelberg and, at the same time, became the head of a department at the German Cancer Research Center.[1] In 1982, Franke became the president of the European Cell Biology Organization (ECBO), a post he held until 1990.[1] His main research field was the molecular characterization of thecytoskeleton in normal and transformed cells.[3] He was also a doping expert.[4]
Franke died on 14 November 2022 from anintracerebral hemorrhage, at age 82.[5][4]
Franke is considered to have been a leading expert in performance-enhancing drugs and one of the most ardent critics of drug abuse in sports. Together with his wife,Brigitte Berendonk, once an Olympicdiscus thrower andshot putter, he fought against drug abuse in sports. He assisted his wife in researching the 1991 bookDoping: From Research to Deceit, uncovering the systematic use of doping byEast German athletes.[6]
Franke defendedcyclistDanilo Hondo after the banned substanceCarphedon was found in his blood during the 2005Vuelta a Murcia.[7][8] Franke argued that the amount found in his blood was "laughably small" and that "you can only get this medication through certain channels in Russia or China, where it is used by the military and the space flight programs."[9]
During an interview on 3 August 2006 with German regional television channelrheinmaintv [de], Franke claimed that cyclistJan Ullrich purchased about €35,000 worth of doping products a year fromEufemiano Fuentes based on documents uncovered in theOperación Puerto doping case.[10][11] A German court imposed agag order on Franke after it found there was not enough evidence to link Ullrich to doping.[12] However, that case returned to court with DNA analysis linking Ullrich to nine bags of blood seized in the Puerto case,[13][14][15] and eventually after four years, Franke won the case.[5]
Franke is author and co-author ofc. 660 original articles in the field of cell and molecular biology.[1] As of 2022[update], hish-index is 158, according toGoogle scholar.[18]
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