DLR - Institute of Aerospace Medicine - Ruth Hemmersbach, Institute of Aerospace Medicine

Staff

PD Dr. Ruth Hemmersbach
Team Leader of Working Group Interdisciplinary Gravity Research

German Aerospace Center
Institute of Aerospace Medicine
Biomedical Science Support Center
Linder Höhe
51147 Köln

Phone:+49 2203 601-3094
Mail:Ruth Hemmersbach
Internet:http://www.dlr.de/me

Education:
Study of geology/palaeontology at the Rheinischen-Friedrich-Wilhelms-University of Bonn (1977-1978)
Study of biology at the Rheinischen Friedrich-Wilhelms-University of Bonn (1978-1985)

Diploma:
(1985): Biology, Rheinischen Friedrich-Wilhelms-University of Bonn

Thesis:
(1988): Dr. rer. nat., Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-University of Bonn
(Title: Comparative studies on gravitaxis and morphology of Loxodes und Paramecium)

Habilitation:
Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-University of Bonn (Zoology) (1998)

Professional Experience:

1985 - 1988	Doctorial Grant of the DLR, Cologne, Germany
1988 - 1992	Postgraduate student at the Institute of Aerospace Medicine , DLR, Cologne
since 1992	Research Scientist at the Institute of Aerospace Medicine , DLR, Cologne , Germany 1988 – 1997 Division Biology 1997 – 2005 Division Space Physiology, Group Cell and Molecular Biology since Dec. 2005 Head of the group Interdisciplinary Gravity Research, Division Biomedical Science Support Center
since 1993	Teaching Assignment at the University of Bonn
1996 - 2004	Scientific Consultancy of ESA for Biolab
Scientific Awards:	1991 Junior Scientist Award of the DLR 1992 Zeldovich Award of the Cospar Life Sciences Group
Special Experience: (Project Scientist)	1990 Experiment on the sounding rocket TEXUS 27 (Gravitaxis) 1991 Experiment on the sounding rocket TEXUS 28 (Gravitaxis) 1994 Experiment on Spacelab-Mission IML-2 („Loxodes“) 1995 Experiment on the sounding rocket MAXUS 2 (Thresholds) 1997 Experiment on Shuttle-Mission SMM06 („Loxodes“) 2001 Experiment on the sounding rocket TEXUS 39 (Second Messenger) 2003 Parabolic Flights (Thresholds) during the 5th DLR campaign
Memberships:	German Society of Protozoology German Society of Zoology Cospar (Committee on Space Research)

Major research interests:

Gravitational biology, Graviperception in cells, methods in order to vary the influence of gravity (e.g. clinostats); gravity-dependent motility (gravitaxis) and signaltransduction

References:

Hemmersbach-Krause, R. , Häder, D.-P.: Negative gravitaxis (geotaxis) of Paramecium - demonstrated by image analysis. Appl. Microgravity Tech., 4, 221-224 (1990)
Hemmersbach-Krause, R., Briegleb, W., Häder, D.-P.: Dependence of gravitaxis in Paramecium on oxygen. Europ. J. Protistol., 27, 278-282 (1991)
Hemmersbach-Krause, R., Briegleb, W., Häder, D.-P., Plattner, H.: Gravity effects on Paramecium cells: an analysis of a possible sensory function of trichocysts and of simulated weightlessness on trichocyst exocytosis. Europ. J. Protistol., 27, 85-92 (1991)
Hemmersbach-Krause, R., Briegleb, W., Vogel, K., Häder, D.-P.: Swimming velocity of Paramecium under the conditions of weightlessness. Acta Protozool., 32, 229-236 (1993)
Hemmersbach-Krause, R., Briegleb, W., Häder, D.-P., Vogel, K., Grothe, D., Meyer, I. : Orientation of Paramecium under the conditions of weightlessness. J. Euk. Microbiol., 40, 4, 439-446 (1993)
Häder, D.-P., Rosum, A., Schäfer, J. & Hemmersbach, R.: Gravitaxis in the flagellate Euglena gracilis is controlled by an active gravireceptor. J. Plant Physiol., 146, 474-480 (1995)
Häder, D-P., Rosum, A., Schäfer, J., Hemmersbach, R.: Graviperception in the flagellate Euglena gracilis during a shuttle space flight. J. Biotech., 47, 261-269 (1996)
Hemmersbach, R., Voormanns, R., Briegleb, W., Rieder, N., Häder, D.-P.: Influence of accelerations on the spatial orientation of Loxodes and Paramecium. J. Biotech., 47, 271-278 (1996)
Hemmersbach, R., Voormanns, R., Häder, D.-P.: Graviresponses in Paramecium biaurelia under different accelerations - studies on the ground and in space. J. Exp. Biol., 199, 2199-2205 (1996)
Häder, D.-P., Hemmersbach, R.: Graviperception and graviorientation in flagellates. Planta, 203, S7-S10 (1997)
Hemmersbach, R., Becker, E., Stockem, W.: Influence of extremely low frequency electromagnetic fields on the swimming behavior of ciliates. Bioelectromagnetics, 18, 491-498 (1997)
Hemmersbach, R., Voormanns, R., Bromeis, B., Schmidt, N., Rabien, H., Ivanova, K.: Comparative studies of the graviresponses of Paramecium and Loxodes. Adv. Space Res., 21 (8/9), 1285-128 (1998)
Hemmersbach, R., Volkmann D., Häder, D.-P.: Graviorientation in protists and plants. Review. J. Plant Physiol., 154, 1-15 (1999)
Hemmersbach, R., Häder, D.-P.: Graviresponses of unicellular organisms. FASEB, 13, S69-75 (1999)
Meli, A., Perella, G., Curcio, F., Hemmersbach, R., Neubert, J., Ambesi-Impiombato, F. S.: Response to thyrotropin of normal thyroid follicular cell strain FRTL5 in hypergravity. Biochimie, 81, 281-285 (1999)
Hemmersbach, R., Bromeis, B., Block, I. , Bräucker, R., Krause, M., Freiberger, N., Stieber, C., Wilczek, M.: Paramecium – a model system for studying cellular graviperception. Adv. Space Res., 27, 31-34 (2001)
Bräucker, R., Cogoli, A., Hemmersbach, R.: Graviperception and graviresponse at the cellular level, in Astrobiology: The Quest for the Conditions of Life. Ed., C. Baumstark-Khan & G. G. Horneck. Springer Verlag, Berlin , Heidelberg , pp. 284-97 (2001) (Download)
Hemmersbach, R., Bräucker, R.: Gravity-related behaviour in ciliates and flagellates, in Cell Biology and Biotechnology in Space. Ed., A. Cogoli. Elsevier, Amsterdam , pp. 59-75 (2002)
Hemmersbach, R ., Wilczek, M., Stieber, C., Bräucker, R., Ivanova, K.: Variable acceleration influences cAMP in Paramecium biaurelia. ESA-SP, 501, 343-344 (2002)
Hemmersbach, R. , Krause, M., Braucker, R., Ivanova, K. : Graviperception in ciliates: steps in the transduction chain. Advances in Space Research, 35, 296-299 (2005)
Häder, D.P., Hemmersbach, R ., Lebert, M.: Gravity and the behaviour of unicellular organisms. Cambridge University Press , Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, São Paul, ISBN 0-521-82052-9 258 pp (2005)
Gerzer , R., Hemmersbach , R ., Horneck , G.: Life Sciences. In: Feuerbacher, B., Stoewer, H. (eds.), Utilization of Space. Today and Tomorrow . Springer Berlin Heidelberg New York , ISBN-10 3-540-25200-2, ISBN-13 978-3-540-25000-9, pp. 341-373, (2006)