Lukas Tamm grew up in Basel, Switzerland, a city located at the country’s border with France and Germany, and with its own place in science history. “Basel is where Friedrich Miescher first discovered DNA, which he called nuclein, from leucocytes in the mid-19th century,” Tamm shares.
Tamm’s father was an organic chemist working on the synthesis of natural products such as antibiotics and glycosides that were used clinically for heart conditions. He co-directed the Institute of Organic Chemistry at the University of Basel and was dean of sciences, and later became president of the University, the oldest in Switzerland founded in 1460. His mother was a nurse who helped transform the home healthcare system in the city of Basel, which previously had been a collection of small church-related organizations but was converted into a larger, citywide foundation.
Tamm had little exposure to science in high school. “Switzerland had tracked high schools, and I was in a track that offered a classical humanistic education: eight years of Latin, five years of ancient Greek, a few modern languages — English and Italian were optional after French — math, and some, but not much, science,” he says. “I did not like Latin, but I liked Greek because those authors wrote about exploring the world. I also liked math and was fascinated by the riches of biology.” Tamm was also a serious musician, and upon graduating was torn between pursuing a career in music or the sciences. “Although I played at a pretty high level, my cello teacher advised me against going into music because ‘it is so competitive if you want to play on the world stage,’” he says. “So, despite my underdeveloped science education, I decided to go into the sciences because I thought I might have a better shot at making a difference in something that combined physics and biology.”
He did not know at that time that biophysics as a field existed, but was fascinated by the clarity and laws of physics and by the beauty and diversity of biology. Fortunately, Tamm began his undergraduate studies at the University of Basel not long after the opening of its Biocenter, modeled after the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, United Kingdom. “The first two years were lots of hard-core physics, chemistry, and math classes, and I had a lot of catching up to do,” he says. “But, it was the third-year all-day integrated core courses in modern biochemistry, biophysics, structural biology, genetics, cell and developmental biology, microbiology, and neurobiology, and that pioneer spirit of the early Biocenter that sold me on a career in the biosciences. I was simply fascinated with what could be discovered in these wide-open and still emerging fields. I knew then that this is what I wanted to do for the rest of my life.”
Following his undergraduate studies, he completed a master’s thesis at Cornell University. He then returned to the Biocenter for his PhD thesis work with Joachim Seelig, who had just developed novel solid-state NMR [nuclear magnetic resonance] methods to look at protein-lipid interactions. “There was a huge debate going on about whether or not different boundary lipids existed around integral membrane proteins,” he explains, “and we characterized the structure and dynamics of those lipids in contact with cytochrome oxidase and the sarcoplasmic calcium pump.”
Tamm conducted his postdoctoral work at Stanford University with Harden McConnell. His research centered on the development of supported lipid bilayers as a new model system to study membrane protein and cell-cell interactions. “That’s when we also first discovered lipid domains in lipid monolayers at the air-water interface,” he says. “McConnell’s lab was truly inspiring and McConnell’s thinking was always ahead of its time. For example, he told me when I arrived, that I should try to detect single molecules. The ideas that he had about how to do this were not really feasible, and I could not come up with better ones, but this was in 1982, about a decade before anyone actually succeeded in detecting single molecules!”
Tamm is now the director of the Center of Membrane and Cell Physiology and vice-chair of the Department of Molecular Physiology and Biological Physics at the University of Virginia (UVA). His lab studies how viruses such as Ebola and HIV gain entry into cells by membrane fusion. “To this end we study the structures of viral envelope glycoproteins at different stages of fusion by NMR and steps of fusion by single-particle tracking using high-end laser fluorescence microscopy,” he says. “A technically similar project aims at understanding the elementary steps of exocytotic/synaptic vesicle fusion in cells or model membrane systems. We are also pushing NMR technologies to solve structures and dynamic properties of membrane proteins and are currently focusing on proteins from Pseudomonas aeruginosa that contribute to the antibiotic resistance of these pathogens.”
The most rewarding aspect of Tamm’s career has been his contributions to training the next generation of biophysicists. “It is just wonderful to see how graduate students grow into their projects and get more enthusiastic about what they do and their careers month by month,” he shares. “Similarly, guiding postdocs to eventually find a position that fits their goals in life is very rewarding. Right now, I am also hiring faculty into our new center at UVA. Providing them with an intellectual, physical, and financially sound environment where they can grow professionally, make great discoveries, and train the next generation of students, is like giving back to the biophysics community what my mentors gave to me at various stages of my career.”
"The personal interactions with so many members of the Society both at UVA and everywhere else energize me every day to come to work, try to make meaningful new biophysical discoveries, and train the next generation of biophysicists."
- Tamm
One piece of advice Tamm offers for those in this stage of their careers is: “Try to look at the big picture and try to achieve something that is really important and significant. Once you have set a big picture goal for yourself, be persistent in pursuing it. Don’t get distracted by temporary setbacks, but also be not afraid to reset your goals when necessary.”
Tamm looks forward to undertaking his new role as Biophysical Society president. “It is wonderful to be part of a vibrant professional community that is represented by the Biophysical Society,” he says. “The personal interactions with so many members of the Society both at UVA and everywhere else energize me every day to come to work, try to make meaningful new biophysical discoveries, and train the next generation of biophysicists.”
In his free time, Tamm enjoys traveling with his family to discover different parts of the world, and enjoys mountain climbing and skiing. “I love skiing and we try to carve out some time for skiing every year. In the winter and spring, ascending high mountains on skis is fantastic, because you get rewarded for the hard work of climbing up by skiing down through beautiful pristine powder snow if you are lucky,” he says.