Matthias Hentze Has Received HMLS Investigator Award
15 December 2016
Prize of the Heidelberg Molecular Life Sciences is endowed with 100,000 euros
Photo: Rothe
Prof. Dr Matthias Hentze (centre), researcher at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory, has received the HMLS Investigator Award. The award was handed over by Prof. Dr Thomas Rausch (left), bioscientist at Heidelberg University and research council coordinator of the “Heidelberg Molecular Life Sciences” initiative. The laudatory speech was delivered by Prof. Dr Andreas Kulozik (right), Heidelberg University Hospital.
In recognition for his efforts in establishing the Molecular Medicine Partnership Unit (MMPU), a cross-institutional research cooperation in the field of molecular medicine, Prof. Dr Matthias Hentze has received this year's HMLS Investigator Award. The prize jury praised the scientist for his significant contributions to the development of Heidelberg as a research location. At the same time, the Heidelberg Molecular Life Sciences (HMLS) award, endowed with 100,000 euros, applies to Prof. Hentze's outstanding research on the control of gene regulation. Matthias Hentze is a researcher at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory in Heidelberg and is one of the two directors of the MMPU. At the invitation of Heidelberg University the award ceremony was held on 14 December 2016.
The Heidelberg Molecular Life Sciences (HMLS) initiative is part of the “Molecular and Cellular Basis of Life” Field of Focus anchored in Ruperto Carola’s institutional strategy. Participants include the Faculty of Biosciences, the Medical Faculties of Heidelberg and Mannheim, the Max Planck Institute for Medical Research, the German Cancer Research Center and European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL).
The award recipient was instrumental in establishing the Molecular Medicine Partnership Unit (MMPU), co-founded with Prof. Dr Andreas Kulozik of Heidelberg University Hospital in 2002. As a joint venture between the Heidelberg Medical Faculty of Ruperto Carola and the European Molecular Biology Laboratory in Heidelberg, the MMPU aims to apply current findings from the field of molecular biology to useful applications in daily clinical practice and to the development of personalised medical treatment strategies. Currently the MMPU consists of nine international, interdisciplinary research groups focused on different diseases such as HIV, leukaemia and chronic pain.
Matthias Hentze (b.1960) studied medicine at the University of Münster and the medical schools in Southampton, Glasgow, Oxford and Cambridge. He received his doctorate in Münster, followed by a research stay at the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development in Bethesda (USA). In 1990 he habilitated at Heidelberg University in the field of medical molecular biology. He was appointed adjunct professor at Ruperto Carola in 2005. Prof. Hentze has been conducting research at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory in Heidelberg since 1989 and has been a director there since 2013. Hentze studies what is known as translational control, the main processes involved in transmitting genetic information in the cell. His work is focused on gene regulation in the cytoplasm instead of the cell nucleus, which is typically primarily associated with gene regulation processes. Prof. Hentze thus opened up a new field of research in molecular biology.
The award ceremony at the BioQuant Center was opened by Prof. Dr Thomas Rausch, researcher at Heidelberg University and research council coordinator of the “Heidelberg Molecular Life Sciences” initiative. Prof. Dr Andreas Kulozik, Medical Director of the Clinic for Paediatrics III – Oncology, Haematology, Immunology, and Pulmonology at Heidelberg University Hospital and Co-director of the Molecular Medicine Partnership Unit, delivered the address honouring the award recipient. Prof. Hentze gave a speech about his research work.
