TUM Professor Matthias Hebrok awarded Bavarian Distinguished Professorship for stem cell and organoid research

TUM Professor Matthias Hebrok awarded Bavarian Distinguished Professorship for stem cell and organoid research

(IN BRIEF) Matthias Hebrok, a biologist and medical researcher, has been awarded a Bavarian Distinguished Professorship to support his scientific activities as Professor of Applied Stem Cell and Organoid Systems at the Technical University of Munich (TUM). Hebrok is highly renowned for his research on pancreatic organoids to investigate diagnostic and therapeutic possibilities in pancreatic cancer and to enable cell replacement therapies for diabetes patients. He is also the Director of the new TUM Center for Organoid Systems (COS), which serves as a bridge between medicine, biomedical engineering, and organoid technology.

(PRESS RELEASE) MUNICH, 5-Apr-2023 — /EuropaWire/ — Bavarian’s Minister of Science and the Arts Markus Blume says: “The appointment of Professor Hebrok under the Bavarian Distinguished Professorship Program makes Munich shine even brighter as a world-class Biotech center: Professor Hebrok’s groundbreaking research on the creation of organoids will further continue Bavaria’s outstanding diabetes research and the fight against pancreatic cancer at TUM. Progress close to humanity as a protective shield for the future: This is the positive power of the Hightech Agenda Bavaria!”

TUM President Prof. Thomas F. Hofmann expressed his gratitude to the Bavarian state government: “The Distinguished Professorship Program creates excellent conditions in Bavaria for internationally leading researchers. I am very pleased that TUM has gained Professor Hebrok, yet another outstanding scientist. His expertise in stem cell and organoid research will help us find new approaches to the complex processes of both organ development and biomedical innovations.”

Prof. Hebrok is a highly renowned researcher worldwide. He studied biology at the University of Freiburg. Following his doctoral studies at the Max Planck Institute of Immunobiology, he conducted post-doctoral research at Harvard University, USA, with a Howard Hughes Medical Institute fellowship. He then accepted a professorship at the University of California San Francisco, where he led the Diabetes Center from 2010 until 2020. Hebrok is Director of the new TUM Center for Organoid Systems (COS). By creating the COS, TUM has established a viable bridge between medicine at the university hospital TUM Klinikum rechts der Isar and Biomedical Engineering at the TUM Garching campus as well as to the Institute for Diabetes and Organoid Technology (IDOT) at Helmholtz Munich.

“I am very pleased about the appointment to a Distinguished Professorship and thank the Bavarian Ministry of Science and the Arts for this outstanding support and for the research opportunities it entails,” says Hebrok. “Our science is here to help people. We work on pancreatic organoids, i.e. artificially generated miniature versions of the pancreas in cell culture. Here we are pursuing two objectives: First of all, we want to simulate and improve insulin-producing beta cells in order to enable cell replacement therapies for diabetes patients. Second, we want to gain a better understanding of pancreatic cancer in order to develop early-stage diagnostics and therapies,” says Hebrok, describing his dual research focus areas.

Further information and links

• Organoid research is a focus topic at TUM. The establishment of the Center for Organoid Systems (COS) at the Garching research center is to create a facility unique in Europe at which the unique conditions of TUM as a technical university with its own university hospital can be leveraged in bringing this highly modern technology to medical-clinical application.
• The Distinguished Professorship Program is a part of the Hightech Agenda Bayern. An appointment to the program is endowed with as much as five million euros over a period of five years. Bavarian Distinguished Professorship Program

Media Contact:

Technical University of Munich
Corporate Communications Center
presse@tum.de
Teamwebsite

Contacts to this article:

Prof. Dr. Matthias Hebrok
Technical University of Munich
Chair of Applied Stem Cell and Organoid Systems
matthias.hebrok@tum.de

SOURCE: Technical University of Munich