Grimm was found dead in Northwood, Middlesex on 25 September 2014 after being told that he was "struggling to fulfil the metrics" of a professorial post by his head of department.
Grimm studied for his PhD in biology[3] under the supervision of Patrick Bäuerle[citation needed] at the University of Tübingen in Germany, working on the role of NF-κB in cell transformation and apoptosis.
At the genetics department there, he continued to work on NF-κB signalling pathways while also studying new technological approaches to analyse gene functionality.
He later co-founded a functional biology and drug discovery company, named Xantos Biomedicine AG, serving on its scientific advisory board until 2006.
[3] In 2004, Grimm was appointed Professor of Toxicology at Imperial College London, where he made fundamental contributions to the understanding of the molecular and cellular mechanisms of apoptotic cell death in connection with the development of cancer.
Grant income is all that counts here, not scientific output.Grimm also criticised Imperial College London, which he complained was no longer acting like a university and instead likened to a business.
He reasoned that within the institution, the "very few up in the hierarchy [profiteered while others] are milked for money, be it professors for their grant income or students who pay 100 pounds just to extend their write-up status".
His line manager was using this period to help Professor Grimm obtain funding or alternative work (the review panel saw evidence of the efforts made in this regard).
It is recommended that the new capability procedure and ordinance include greater clarity on timescales for informal action and how this might operate in different roles.Colquhoun commented: "It seems to be absurd to describe...[the head of department's email]... as an attempt to 'help' Professor Grimm.