Matthias Hentze has carried out pioneering work in the field of RNA biology. Together with his research group at EMBL, he investigates how RNA is controlled in cells and how it itself regulates other processes within the cell.
Messenger RNA, or mRNA for short, transmits information from DNA and thus provides the template for vital protein biosynthesis, i.e. the production of proteins. Hentze studies how a cell decides which proteins it produces. Cells must constantly regulate which proteins they produce, at what time and in what quantity. If this control mechanism is faulty, diseases such as cancer can develop. At the heart of Hentze’s research are so-called RNA-binding proteins. These are proteins that bind directly to RNA and thereby influence what happens to the RNA: whether it is used, modified, degraded or translated into a protein.
Hentze and his research group have also been able to show that RNA not only serves as a messenger molecule for genetic information, but can also directly influence the activity of proteins. In this process, an RNA molecule binds to a protein and alters its function. They coined the term “riboregulation” for this principle.
In addition, Matthias Hentze has conducted extensive research into iron metabolism. This concerns how the body absorbs, stores and uses iron. Here, too, RNA and RNA-binding proteins play an important role.
Hentze has already received numerous awards for his research. With the Federal Cross of Merit, he is now being given the highest recognition that the Federal Republic of Germany bestows for services to the common good. The Order of Merit is awarded in eight different classes; the Cross of Merit on Ribbon is the second class of the Order. The award is conferred by the Federal President; Hentze was presented with the Federal Cross of Merit by Heidelberg’s Lord Mayor Eckart Würzner on 2 July in Heidelberg.