Milton T. Stubbs: Structural biologist with an interdisciplinary passion

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Milton Stubbs, Professor of Physical Biotechnology at the Institute of Biochemistry and Biotechnology, Martin Luther University, Halle-Wittenberg. Source: BMBF/Unternehmen Region

15.07.2010  - 

The path to Halle was long. Born in New York, Milton Stubbs initially conducted his research in London, before moving to Sweden. This was followed by stays for the structural biologist and expert in X-ray crystallography in Martinsried, Munich and Marburg. Since March 2002, Milton Stubbs has been Professor of Physical Biotechnology at the Institute of Biochemistry and Biotechnology at the venerable Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg. There, his research focuses on the figuration of biological molecules, in particular how proteins change shape to adapt to their environment.

Milton T. Stubbs is not a typical-sounding name in the German biotechnology scene. It’s origins are in fact far from Germany, in the glittering cultural and economic metropolis of New York. Stubbs’ first years were spent in this most famous of all world cities. He watched fishermen catch catfish from the Hudson, painted and played in kindergarten – as they are also known over there – and began school like everybody else in the ‘first grade’. But then his parents’ divorce changed the course of his life forever. The young New Yorker moved with his mother to London, where he began attending a local school. From a German perspective, this move might not seem so dramatic – the language is the same, and it is possible to assume that the “American way of life” is not fundamentally different from life in “England’s green and pleasant land.” But how wrong you can be.

“We don’t have any divas,” says Milton Stubbs. What they do have, on the other hand, is very full desks. Source: BMBF/Unternehmen Region

“I was and am always curious”

Milton Stubbs has to laugh out loud: “Of course, London is a world metropolis. But compared to New York, the Anglo-Saxon way of life is far more cautious. Whereas New Yorkers tend to do without long and deliberating thoughts or discussions in favour of an almost childlike desire to try things out, many inhabitants of the British capital frown on this kind of directness.” This and the frequent introvertedness of British life was alien to the young school-going Milton. Furthermore, his fellow students employed entirely new words for previously familiar concepts. The same language, and yet a whole new world. Life was tough for Master Stubbs, but not wanting to disappoint his mother, he hunkered down and got on with his new life as best he could.

Of course, school played a large part: “I was and am always curious,” he says, smiling a big smile that makes him look younger than his years. In discussion, Stubbs’ body is engaged in seemingly unending movement, which fully utilises the multi-axis possibilities of his office swivel chair. “I found the world around me exciting, even then. Of course, I didn’t immediately connect this with science,” he admits. It was no secret, though, that he immensely enjoyed the physics and math lessons at his new school. Grinning, he tells us another story of the enthusiasm of his youth: “I was the first boy in my class to go to Germany as an exchange student. Easter holidays at Lake Constance – also a completely different world.”

Oxford an der Saale

Stubbs’ began his studies with mathematics and physics: “The dream of studying maths lasted for only one semester. Mathematics at university, with its abstractions and definitions, was always too esoteric for me. So I concentrated on physics.” He completed his bachelor's degree from the University of Durham in 1983, after which he immediately moved on to that most distinguished of academic institutions: Oxford. He spent one year there, where he made the most of the unsurpassed scientific facilities and expertise. “High power! So many scientists to supervise us, experts from across the world, all with an incomparable understanding of the great university traditions, but who above all were working primarily for the future.” Milton T. Stubbs comes to a stop. His limbs stop waving about, and he fixes a clear gaze on his interviewer: “That is exactly the situation we want to bring about here in Halle an der Saale.”

Reasonably small international working groups communicating intensively with scientific leaders and carrying out their research quickly and professionally is how Stubbs imagines the future. “The technical infrastructure at our Institute of Biochemistry and Biotechnology at the Martin-Luther-University is excellent, the conditions for world class work are there. Now it is up to us!” Before he can continue with his dreams for Halle, he breaks off and returns again to the subject of England. The range of available opportunities in Oxford fired his imagination, he says, and gave his creativity some unexpected movement and momentum. The breathtaking technological advances of the 1980s and the emerging computer age put not only technological research but also philosophical questions on the scientific agenda. He undertook his Doctor of Philosophy at the Oxford Institute for Molecular Biophysics. Over time, his passion for research into subjects that spanned physics, biology, chemistry and medicine, and for applying the achieved results, for example for the treatment of previously incurable diseases, was enduringly aroused.

The happiest years

Then came his first residence as a scientist in Germany, more precisely the old Federal Republic – in Martinsried, Bavaria. Stubbs: “The first weeks were really hard. Outside of the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry, they were speaking a German that I did not recognise. The stereotypes tell us that the Bavarians are a genial bunch, but Stubbs’ experiences were markedly different. That first week in Germany was lonely.” The country folk kept their distance from the newcomer. But the scientist had a vocation to pursue. He eventually worked for a total of seven years in Martinsried alongside Nobel Prize for Chemistry-winner Robert Huber, specialising increasingly in the field of X-ray crystallography. Today, he is happy to look back on these times: “They were probably my happiest years. I learned a great deal – for my work, but above all for my life.”

In 1997 he made a contact that was to profoundly influence Milton Stubbs’ career. He was not tied down at the time, and was hard at work as head of X-ray crystallography at the Institute of Pharmaceutical Chemistry at the University of Marburg – what more could you want as a researcher? A possible answer to this not-yet-posed question began to form in Stubbs’ mind when Rainer Rudolph invited him to lecture in Halle (Saale). It is not the last time that Milton Stubbs mentions Rainer Rudolph. Up until December 2009, they were colleagues at the Martin Luther University Halle/Wittenberg. Professor Rudolph headed the field of Technical Biochemistry at the same institute, and their years-long cooperation was intense and inspiring. Rainer Rudolph died unexpectedly in December 2009.

Stubbs remembers their first meeting in Halle very clearly, and he recounts it without sentimentality: “The city was not love at first sight. But the people, conversations, subjects, and ambitions from this single day impressed me deeply. It was a spirit of optimism that touched and inspired me.” Obviously, it was not only Stubbs that was impressed by this first encounter. Just a few months later, Rudolph and his team asked him whether he could imagine conducting his research not far away in Eastern Germany. The already developed answer did not take long to become a firm decision. A first interview in 1998 cleared the path for the New York-born Londoner Milton Stubbs’ move to the city on the River Saale. In 2001 came a call from the over 500 years-old Halle University, resulting in yet another move, and a new beginning in Saxony-Anhalt: “I arrived here at just the right time. There was so much room for new developments, as well as the finest facilities, and staff and students who signalled that something was growing and that we had much to achieve together.” It had been years since Milton Stubbs had experienced such intensive cooperation.

No place for divas

Halle is the ideal place for his work, he says, and his enthusiasm is clear. In the meantime, his established and continuously developing expertise in protein research has lent this research location a distinct profile: “There are many reasons for the speed of this development,” says Milton Stubbs, adding tellingly: “A very important aspect, however, is that we have no divas here. We are a team. Everyone has their strengths, which we employ for our goals.” He makes a point of this, mentioning the many diva-like researchers that he came across on his path to Halle (Saale), who, he complains, markedly slow the pace and passion of the respective teams. With his wife – a born resident of Halle – and his children, he permits himself some genuinely work-free hours on the weekends, during which he might stroll through Halle’s well-preserved and beautifully restored old town, or venture out along the River Saale and the parks of Peißnitz Island. His distinctive laugh echoes through the room once again: “It's beautiful here. I feel really comfortable.” It is the sound of someone who has arrived, and feels truly at home. He will be recounting many of these enthusiasms in the months to come at the University of California, Berkeley. During a research stay there, he will be further testing the possibilities of electron microscopy. And he’ll be using the occasion to bring some attention to a particular East German city and it’s university, and of course his team: “We still have to convince others about Halle (Saale). But this can change quickly,” says Stubbs, convinced.

Some time ago, a boy from Halle an der Saale moved to London to fulfil his musical talents, where in due course he would become not only an Englander, but also world famous. His name was Georg Friedrich Händel. Today, the British are moving to Halle (Saale) to improve our lives small step by small step with their scientific talents. These are the times we live in.

This text was originally published in the journal "Unternehmen Region" edition 01/2010.