Jonathan Bohlen Receives the Life Sciences Bridge Award

Dr. Jonathan Bohlen, a molecular biologist at the LMU Munich Gene Center and a member of TRR237, was awarded the Aventis Foundation’s Life Sciences Bridge Award. The prize, worth 100,000 euros, is one of the most highly endowed awards for early-career researchers in the life sciences in Germany.

Bohlen is researching how ribosomes translate genetic information on messenger RNA into proteins. In the process, he elucidated a mechanism underlying the rare immunodeficiency disorder MSMD: If the translation factor MCTS-1 is missing, certain T cells cannot produce the JAK2 protein. This disrupts an important signaling pathway of the immune system that is crucial, among other things, for defending against mycobacteria.

His work demonstrates that selective protein synthesis is a key regulatory level of the immune system and provides potential starting points for new therapies for rare immunodeficiencies.

Congratulations, Jonathan!

https://www.aventis-foundation.org/wissenschaftsfoerderung-life-sciences-bridge-award-2026-2/