Günther Schütz (biologist)

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Günther Schütz (born May 1, 1940 in Bad Schwalbach ; † May 28, 2020 ) was a German molecular biologist.

Schütz studied medicine at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University in Frankfurt am Main , the University of Bern and the University of Gießen and received his doctorate in 1967 at the Institute for Physiological Chemistry at the University of Marburg . After a time as a medical assistant at the Free University of Berlin , he was a post-doctoral student at Columbia University (Institute of Cancer Research) from 1969 . From 1975 he was head of a working group at the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics in Berlin and from 1980 head of the Department of Molecular Biology of Cell I at the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) in Heidelberg. He was also a professor of molecular biology at Heidelberg University .

Even after his retirement, he led a working group at the DKFZ as a Helmholtz professor since 2008; he took over one of the newly established Helmholtz senior professorships, which he held until the end of 2015.

Steroid hormones , certain vitamins and some other signaling molecules act by binding to specific nuclear receptors inside cells on genes , the expression of which they activate or repress. Schütz investigated the mechanism of this gene control through the specific DNA binding of nuclear receptors by developing methods to switch off associated genes for these receptors in specific cells in the mouse model ( gene targeting ). Specifically, he worked with his group on corticosteroids (glucocorticoids, mineral corticoids) and estrogens . Among other things, he was able to examine their role in embryonic development (differentiation of cells), the development of the nervous system and their influence on various brain functions. He also investigated the molecular basis of learning and remembering and drug addiction and, more recently, signaling pathways that are important in the development of brain tumors.

In 1988 he received the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize . He received the European Medal of the Society of Endocrinology (1997) and the Max Planck Research Prize for International Cooperation (1998). He is a member of the Leopoldina (since 2000), the Academia Europaea and the American Association for Cancer Research .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ On the death of Günther Schütz. Retrieved June 3, 2020 .
  2. ↑ Switching off entire genes as in knockout mice is of limited value here, as these mice are generally not viable
  3. ↑ Role of the glutamate receptor in dopamine-specific neurons in the control of synaptic plasticity associated with cocaine use
  4. ↑ Member entry by Prof. Dr. Günther Schütz at the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina , accessed on July 22, 2016.
personal data
SURNAME Schütz, Günther
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German molecular biologist
DATE OF BIRTH May 1, 1940
PLACE OF BIRTH Bad Schwalbach
DATE OF DEATH May 28, 2020