Dietmar Knopp

Fascinated by the formidable efficiency of the immune system while studying biochemistry at the University of Leipzig, Germany, Dietmar Knopp became one of the very first scientists who tackled the preparation and use of high affine antibodies for analytical determination of small environmental and food related chemicals. His radioimmunoassay for the herbicide 2,4-D, reported in 1985, was the starting point of a scientific career that began in 1991 at the Technische Universität München, Germany,  where his research focuses on the exploration of different kinds of biomolecules – mainly antibodies – and assay formats for rapid, highly sensitive and specific bioanalyses of trace amounts of chemicals in complex matrices.