Martin Hetzer (born in Vienna, Austria) is an Austrian-born molecular biologist and President of the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA). He is holder of the Jesse and Caryl Philips Foundation Chair in Molecular Cell Biology. His research focuses on fundamental aspects of organismal aging with a special focus on the heart and central nervous system. His laboratory has also made important contributions in the area of cancer research and cell differentiation.

Career

Hetzer received his Ph.D. in biochemistry and genetics from the

University of Vienna The University of Vienna (, ) is a public university, public research university in Vienna, Austria. Founded by Rudolf IV, Duke of Austria, Duke Rudolph IV in 1365, it is the oldest university in the German-speaking world and among the largest ...

, Austria, and completed postdoctoral work in the lab of Iian Mattaj at the

European Molecular Biology Laboratory The European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) is an intergovernmental organization dedicated to molecular biology research and is supported by 29 member states, two prospect member states, and one associate member state. EMBL was created in ...

(EMBL) in

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; ; ) is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, fifth-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, and with a population of about 163,000, of which roughly a quarter consists of studen ...

, Germany. He joined the faculty at the

Salk Institute The Salk Institute for Biological Studies is a scientific research institute in the La Jolla community of San Diego, California. The independent, non-profit institute was founded in 1960 by Jonas Salk, the developer of the polio vaccine; among th ...

in La Jolla as an assistant professor in 2004 and became full professor in 2011. In 2016, he was Salk's Senior Vice President and Chief Science Officer until he moved back to Austria in 2023, becoming the second President of the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA) succeeding Thomas A. Henzinger.

Awards

Hetzer has received a number of awards including a Pew Scholar Award, an Early Life Scientist Award from the

American Society of Cell Biology The American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB) is a professional society that was founded in 1960.American Cancer Society The American Cancer Society (ACS) is a nationwide non-profit organization dedicated to eliminating cancer. The ACS publishes the journals ''Cancer'', '' CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians'' and '' Cancer Cytopathology''. History The society w ...

, a

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

Research Merit Award, the 2013 Glenn Award for Research in Biological Mechanisms of Aging and the 2015

NIH The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and public health research. It was founded in 1887 and is part of the United States Department of Health and Human Service ...

Director's Transformative Research Award as well as the Keck Foundation Research Award.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hetzer, Martin Molecular biologists Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Salk Institute for Biological Studies people University of Vienna alumni