1 Ernst Th. Rietschel is Chairman of the Berlin Institute of Health, Berlin, Germany. E-mail: [email protected] Bruckner-Tuderman is Vice President of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, Bonn, and Professor and Chair of the Department of Dermatology, Medical Center-University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany.Georg Schütte is State Secretary at the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, Berlin, Germany.Günther Wess is President and Chief Executive Officer of Helmholtz Zentrum München-German Research Center for Environmental Health, Munich, Germany.