Michael Reth

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Michael Reth, March 2014

Michael Reth (born November 8, 1950 in Düsseldorf ) is a German biologist and professor of molecular immunology at the Albert Ludwigs University of Freiburg . Reth is also an "External Scientific Member" of the Max Planck Society and works at the Max Planck Institute for Immunobiology and Epigenetics . Since 2007 he has been the spokesman for the BIOSS Cluster of Excellence , which was established at the University of Freiburg.

Life and academic career

After school in his hometown, he studied biology at the University of Cologne from 1971 , where he graduated in 1977. He then received his doctorate in 1981 under Klaus Rajewsky at the Institute for Genetics at the University of Cologne with a thesis on the "characterization of individual antibodies and idiotopes of the NPb idiotype ".

The next station in his scientific career from 1982 onwards was a DFG-funded research stay at the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Columbia University in New York City , where he worked in Frederick Alt's group on the regulation of early B-cell development . In 1985 he returned to the Institute for Genetics in Cologne as group leader of the BMFT project “Molecular Genes and Cell Technology” and in 1988 received his habilitation in Cologne with his work on immunogenetics . The title of the habilitation thesis is: "Control of immunoglobulin expression during B-cell development".

In the same year, the Nobel Prize winner Georges Köhler appointed him to a permanent group leader position at what was then the Max Planck Institute for Immunobiology in Freiburg. In 1990 he was appointed to a permanent C3 position within the Max Planck Society. Michael Reth has been working as a professor of molecular immunology at the Faculty of Biology at the University of Freiburg since 1996 and continues to conduct research at the MPI for Immunobiology and Epigenetics. In 2007 Reth became the spokesman for the Cluster of Excellence BIOSS - Center for Biological Signaling Studies . BIOSS conducts biological communication research. Seven faculties, the MPI for Immunobiology and Epigenetics and the Fraunhofer Institute for Physical Measurement Techniques in Freiburg are involved in the excellence cluster .

Main research areas

The focus of Reth's work is the structure and function of the antigen receptors on B cells and the signal transmission in activated lymphocytes . In 1988, his work led to the first description of the signal subunits of the B-cell antigen receptor (BCR), namely the Ig-α / Ig-β heterodimer. In addition, he identified the "immunoreceptor tyrosine-based activation motif" (ITAM) for the first time, via which all antigen receptors transmit signals to the cytosol . His more recent work deals with both the organization of the BCR on living cells and the signaling of this receptor. Here his working group succeeded for the first time in identifying the important adapter protein SLP-65, which is of decisive importance for the differentiation of B cells and acts as a tumor suppressor gene during B cell development. This work could thus provide new insights into the development of B-cell tumors (leukemia) in children. His latest research shows that the B cell antigen receptor forms oligomers on resting B cells. By binding an antigen, the oligomeric BCR is opened and sends out signals to activate the B cells. These studies support the “dissociation activation model” and contradict the “cross-linking model” of B-cell activation.

Memberships and honors

Web links

credentials

  1. ↑ Center for Biological Signaling Studies : Michael Reth's website, accessed on May 1, 2019
  2. ^ Member entry by Michael Reth at the German Academy of Natural Scientists Leopoldina , accessed on October 12, 2012.
  3. ↑ Max Planck Institute of Immunobiology and Epigenetics, Laboratory Michael Reth : Nano-scale organization of the BCR on resting and activated B cells. Retrieved October 27, 2014
  4. ↑ Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter Prize for Freiburg researchers. idw-online.de from March 14, 2014
personal data
SURNAME Reth, Michael
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German immunologist, professor of genetics
DATE OF BIRTH November 8, 1950
PLACE OF BIRTH Dusseldorf