Walter Gams


Konrad Walter Gams was an Austrian mycologist. He worked as a scientist for his entire career at the Centraalbureau voor Schimmelcultures in the Netherlands. He served in the international authority on classification of fungi, the Special Committee on Fungi and Lichens, from which he contributed to the development of the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi and plants. Some species of fungi he identified became sources of pharmaceutical drugs such as cephalosporin C from Sarocladium strictum and Acremonium chrysogenum, and ciclosporin from ''Tolypocladium inflatum.''

Biography

Gams was born in Zurich, Switzerland, to Helmut Gams and Margarete Gams-Schima. His father, originally from Brno, was a botanist who was a professor at the University of Munich, Germany, and then at the University of Innsbruck, Austria. He studied botany in his father's department for his bacherlor's degree. He went to the University of Zurich to study under his uncle Emil Schmid for his master's degree. He returned to Innsbruck and obtained a PhD in 1960. With a post-doctoral scholarship, he went to UK to work with Dennis Parkinson, a microbiologist at the University of Liverpool.
In 1961, Gams was recruited as a research associate by Klaus Heinz Domsch at the research institute, Biologischen Bundesanstalt für Land-und Forstwirtschaft in Kiel-Kitzeberg, Germany. His works with Domsch on fungal diversity was documented in several books and research articles, including two monumental monographs, Fungi in Agricultural Soils and Compendium of Soil Fungi. Together they discovered novel fungal species such as Paraphaeosphaeria sporulosa and Podila ''epigama. Gams left Biologischen Bundesanstalt to join the Centraalbureau voor Schimmelcultures at Baarn in the Netherlands. He worked there until his retirement in 1999.
Since 1984, Gams became a permanent member of the Nomenclature Committee for Fungi that maintains the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi and plants. He served as the committee's secretary for several years. He published over 300 publications, including six books, created one new order, 10 new families, 57 generic names, and 622 species epithets. Three genera and 39 species were named after him.
Among Gams's discoveries of fungal species, Acremonium chrysogenum, Sarocladium strictum, and Tolypocladium inflatum become important in pharmceutical science and industry as they are sources of clinical drugs. Acremonium chrysogenum and Sarocladium strictum produced cephalosporin C, one of the most widely used antibiotics, and which in turn is the source several related cephalosporins. Tolypocladium inflatum'' is the source of ciclosporin A, which is used as immunosuppressant and is approved for use in atopic dermatitis in dogs and allergic dermatitis in cats.

Personal life

Gams never used his first name and even shunned it as his initial. Although he spent most of his lifetime in the Netherlands, he remained an Austrian citizen throughout life. In 1972, he married Sophia Aaltine Luinge with whom he had two daughters, Hedi and Hilde. He and Sophia were passionate musicians, playing and composing several classical and folk music at different occasions.
Gams founded a charity programme called "Studienstiftung mykologische Systematik und Ökologie" in 1995 for educational funding of young mycologists, particularly from poor backgrounds. The foundation is now administered by the Deutschsprachige Mykologische Gesellschaft.

Awards and honours