“Honest dyes the longest,” they said during his college days. A small taunt, but certainly a good deal of recognition. Justifiably so: With his staining methods, Paul Ehrlich made cells and pathogens visible under the microscope, developing, among other things, a diagnostic method for differentiating white blood cells. The blood count as we know it today would be unthinkable without Ehrlich’s work. In the course of his dissertation, the then 23-year-old discovered mast cells – even if he didn’t yet know about their importance for the human immune system. He helped his contemporary and friend Robert Koch to improve the staining detection for tuberculosis pathogens.
But Paul Ehrlich’s legacy is even greater: With his side-chain theory about receptors and the formation of antibodies, the researcher laid the foundation for today’s understanding of the immune system. In 1908 he received the Nobel Prize for this. His passion for immunology also made Ehrlich a key figure in the field of biomedical drug approval and testing: Emil von Behring’s pioneering serum to cure diphtheria was initially subject to quality fluctuations. Ehrlich responded by introducing drug testing of each batch of antibodies before administering them to the sick – batch testing was born. From then on, the serum could be produced with the same quality and defeated diphtheria, the “child’s strangling angel”. Paul Ehrlich should also take away her terror from another serious illness. The “Heilarsen” Salvarsan he developed in 1909 is considered the first systematically developed therapeutic and cured syphilis. Not least because of this medical breakthrough, Ehrlich went down in medical history as the founder of chemotherapy.
“An Outstanding Researcher”
In Frankfurt am Main, probably his most important place of work, Ehrlich ran two institutes throughout his life: the Georg Speyer House for chemotherapy and the Institute for Experimental Therapy. The latter is now known as the Paul-Ehrlich-Institut or Federal Institute for Vaccines and Biomedical Drugs and is located in Langen, Hesse.
“Paul Ehrlich was an outstanding researcher who put his findings into practice for the benefit of the people,” he said Federal Minister of Health Hermann Gröhe. “The Paul-Ehrlich-Institut (PEI), as a federal institute in the department of the Federal Ministry of Health, is successfully continuing this tradition.” Prof. Klaus Cichutek, President of the PEI and thus one of the successors to the Nobel Prize winner at the head of the institute, continues: “The PEI – like Paul Ehrlich – combines research with the approval and testing of biomedical drugs. This makes us a successful player also in an international environment.”
Under the patronage of Minister Gröhe, a public ceremony to mark the 100th anniversary of Paul Ehrlich’s death will take place on November 22, 2015 in Frankfurt’s Paulskirche. Meanwhile, the Berlin Medical History Museum of the Charité is dedicating the exhibition “Arsenic and Top Research” to the scientist, which can be seen in the capital until September 27, 2015 and in Frankfurt am Main from October 29.