Cell News 03/2019
14
JULY 22, 2019
The Max Planck Society mourns the death of Suzanne Eaton,
whose life came to a tragic end in Crete on July 2, 2019. In
a personal letter to her husband, Tony Hyman, Max Planck
President Martin Stratmann paid tribute to Suzanne Eaton as
an outstanding scientist and a wonderful human being, saying
that Eaton had been a key person, an essential pillar of the
Institute in Dresden right from its very beginning.
Suzanne Eaton was Senior Research Group Leader at the Max
Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics, and a
Professor at the Biotechnology Center of the Technical Univer-
sity of Dresden. In 2001, she started linking seemingly distant
areas of research in her own laboratory in order to find deeper
explanations for the pattern formation in the development of
the fruit fly. The focus of her research was the question "How
do cells form tissues?”
“Suzanne had a huge impact on the development of our insti-
tute in that she bridged different disciplines – biology, physics
and mathematics – and as such inspired the interdisciplinarity
that has characterized the research at the MPI-CBG since its
conception”, writes the Board of Directors in their statement
following with "Suzanne was in her own league”. Thanks to
her insatiable curiosity and creativity, she discovered new
and groundbreaking approaches to understanding how cells
communicate with each other to form tissue. Through the
discovery of signaling molecules, the morphogens, and their
physical properties and interactions, Suzanne's team was able
to explain how signals are spread over long distances in tissues.
Most recently, Suzanne's research focused on the interaction of
signaling and metabolic pathways.
Her studies uncovered fundamental biological mechanisms,
her publications in high-ranking journals speak for themselves:
Suzanne Eaton has been a key player in her field of research,
her scientific work has had an immense international impact in
the wide scientific community. She played a big part in making
the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genet-
ics, and the city of Dresden known throughout the world as a
beacon of science and excellent environment for early career
researchers.
She was instrumental in shaping the development of the
Dresden Institute. Suzanne Eaton had a decisive influence on
this community as a family-friendly, international, intellectual
environment with plenty of room for innovative ideas. For her,
there seemed to be no doubt that it was possible to balance
a life lived to the full with a career in science. She found
the perfect balance to combine her many roles of scientist,
mother, athlete, and enthusiastic piano player. With her calm
and steady personality, she made the first generation of young
group leaders feel welcome coming to Dresden from top uni-
versities to develop their own research, giving them the feeling
of having come to the right place and of being able to succeed.
We miss a wonderful, creative, lively, enthusiastic colleague
and friend, and a brilliant scientist.
Copyright: Max-Planck-Gesellschaft
OBITUARY
Remembering Suzanne Eaton
The Max Planck Society mourns the death of an exceptional scientist and wonderful human being
Suzanne Eaton was Senior Research Leader at the MPI for Molecular Cell
Biology and Genetics.
©
MPI für Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics
