In Memory of Professor Jaroslav Šterzl

Abstract

Professor Jaroslav Šterzl, former Director of the Institute of Microbiology of the Czech Republic, Prague, and the Founder and former Chairman of the Czech Immunological Society, passed away on April 8, 2012 – 1 month before his 87th birthday. He was born in Pilsen and finished his studies at the School of Medicine of Charles University, Prague. He subsequently served as an Assistant Professor at the Institute of Microbiology (1949–1951) and then was a graduate student at the Central Institute of Biology of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences, where he defended his CSc. (equivalent to Ph.D.) in 1953. Šterzl received his Doctor of Sciences degree in 1961 and was appointed Associate Professor in 1963 and Professor of Microbiology in 1969. Professor Šterzl was a pioneer of modern immunology in Europe. After initially focusing on mechanisms of innate immunity, he devoted many years to studies of antibody formation and displayed remarkable imagination in the methods for adoptive cell transfer in porcine fetuses and germ-free piglets. His experimental evidence for a common origin of cells that produce antibodies laid the ground for the development of European and international immunology in this field. In the 1950s, Professor Šterzl founded the Department of Immunology and established the Laboratory of Gnotobiology in Czechoslovakia. He thereby established a unique model for differentiation between the mechanisms of innate and acquired immunity by observing results from interaction between various animals with a diverse commensal microbiota. With the current interest in the effects of the mucosal microbiota on the entire immune system, we can now fully appreciate the importance of Šterzl’s scientific imagination. His experimental contributions were reported in 250 frequently cited articles, nine of which were published in Nature. In 1972, when the Scandinavian Journal of Immunology was founded, Professor Šterzl was a member of the editorial board, and for various periods, he has served on the editorial boards of several other respected international journals. Also, he was a founder of the Czech journal Folia Microbiologica. In 1973, Šterzl established the Immunological Branch of the Biological Society that ultimately became the fully independent Czechoslovak Immunological Society. Honorary memberships in a number of international immunological societies (American, German and French) gave further recognition of Šterzl’s important contributions. In addition, he collaborated with the World Health Organization for many years and was a leader of the Reference Laboratory for Factors of Innate Immunity. The 1989 ‘Velvet’ Revolution brought to an end the professional impediments that had been imposed upon him 20 years earlier, but after that he was able to flourish once again and consolidated his scientific and organizational accomplishments. Both the Czech and the entire world immunological community has lost a highly distinguished colleague whose work fundamentally influenced the development of immunology as a scientific field. We will remember him with respect and gratitude.