![]() | This biographical article is written like a résumé .(February 2023) |
Matthias Hentze | |
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Born | Wiedenbrück, Germany [1] | 25 January 1960
Alma mater | Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Molecular Biology, RNA-binding proteins |
Institutions | |
Thesis | "Influence of amino acid analogs on maturation, transport and stability of cathepsin D in human skin fibroblasts" (1984) |
Website | www.embl.de |
Matthias Werner Hentze (born 25 January 1960) is a German scientist. He is the director of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), [4] co-director of the Molecular Medicine Partnership Unit between EMBL and Heidelberg University, and Professor of Molecular Medicine at Heidelberg University. [5]
Matthias Hentze studied medicine in the UK at the medical schools at the universities of Southampton, Oxford, Glasgow and Cambridge, and in Germany at the Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität, Münster from which he qualified in 1984. [1] In the same year, he received his M.D. degree for a dissertation on the role of glycosylation in lysosomal enzyme expression with Kurt von Figura as his advisor. [1] [6]
After a short phase of clinical work, Hentze became a postdoctoral fellow at the National Institutes of Health (Bethesda, Maryland, USA) in 1985, having been awarded a fellowship by the German Research Foundation (DFG). [1] [ better source needed ] In 1989, he joined the European Molecular Biology Laboratory in Heidelberg as an independent group leader.[ citation needed ] In 1990, he obtained the Habilitation from the Ruprecht-Karls University in Heidelberg and was appointed Dean of the EMBL International Ph.D. Programme in 1996. [1]
Together with Andreas Kulozik of the Medical Faculty of Heidelberg University, Hentze co-founded the Molecular Medicine Partnership Unit (MMPU) in 2002 [7] [8] and serves as its co-director. [1]
In 2005, Hentze became Associate Director of the EMBL and Professor for Molecular Medicine at the University of Heidelberg. [1] In 2013, Hentze was appointed Director of EMBL, advising and supporting EMBL's Director General, Edith Heard. [4]
Since 1996, Hentze has held positions in EMBL's scientific administration, initially as Dean of the EMBL International PhD Programme [9] and in the establishment and expansion of EMBL's internal and external training programs. He played a key role in the construction and establishment of the Advanced Training Centre (ATC) in Heidelberg. [10] He is also responsible for developing EMBL's fundraising programs as well as the alumni program, and established EMBL's first Bioethics Committee, which he chaired from 2004 to 2020. [1]
Hentze founded the Environmental Research Initiative (ERI) in 2020. [11] ERI connects private donors with the scientific potential of researchers at EMBL.[ citation needed ]
Hentze serves or served on the editorial boards of Molecular Cell, RNA, [12] EMBO Molecular Medicine, [13] Trends in Biochemical Sciences, [14] Journal of Molecular Medicine, [15] BMC Molecular Biology, [16] and Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: RNA. [17]
Hentze is or was a member of the Scientific Advisory Board and Board of Trustees of the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine [18] (Berlin, Germany), the scientific advisory board of the Berlin Institute of Health (BIH/BIG), [19] the Istituto Nazionale Genetica Molecolare (INGM), Milan, Italy, [20] the Centenary Institute, Sydney, Australia, [21] the KAUST Smart Health Initiative, and the Cold Spring Harbor Conferences Asia. [22] Furthermore, Hentze is the scientific co-founder of Anadys Pharmaceuticals, San Diego, USA. [23]
Hentze's research focuses on RNA biology and RNA-binding proteins. In 1987, Hentze and his colleagues discovered iron-responsive elements as first example of an RNA element regulating the translation of mammalian mRNA into proteins. [24] Hentze's research group has paved the way for understanding translational control (RNA-binding proteins, microRNAs) whose significance for developmental biology, brain function, carcinogenesis and other diseases has in the meantime become widely recognized. [25] Moreover, he has made key discoveries in the area of iron metabolism and disease. [26]
In 2010, Hentze proposed the concept of REM Networks, a new interconnection between metabolism and gene expression on the basis of RNA-binding proteins. [27] The research project was awarded the ERC Advanced Investigator Grant by the European Research Council in 2011. [28] Work following this hypothesis led to the development of the "RNA Interactome Capture" technique and to the discovery of hundreds of formerly unknown RNA-binding proteins in the cells of living organisms from human to yeast, including more than 50 metabolic enzymes. [29] [30] [31] Hentze and his colleagues also discovered new RNA-binding motives of proteins which they unraveled using the newly developed method called "RBDmap". [32]
In 2019, they described the concept of riboregulation. They found out that the autophagy receptor protein p62 is directly regulated by a small RNA, vtRNA1-1, and that the small RNA directly interferes with protein-protein interactions between p62 monomers. [33] They reported a new form of riboregulation in 2022: RNA binds to the catalytic center of the human enzyme enolase-1 and inhibits its glycolytic activity. [34] Currently, their research focuses on how widely biological processes are riboregulated, and how riboregulation determines cell metabolism, differentiation and malignant processes.
Hentze is (co-)author of textbooks about Molecular Medicine and has published over 300 scientific original contributions. [1]