Albert Heck gives prestigious Mendel Lecture

Professor Albert Heck of Utrecht University has delivered the prestigious Mendel Lecture today. As part of this honour, he also received an accompanying Mendel Medal.

The Mendel Lectures are regarded one of the most distinguished events in the biochemistry community and has previously been delivered by highly esteemed scientist, amongst them several  Nobel Prize winners. The lecture series is held at a scientific iconic landmark: the refectory of the Augustian Abbey of St. Thomas in Brno, where Gregor Mendel established many of the rules of heredity.

For the twentieth series of the lectures, Albert Heck was invited. Heck is a leading expert in the field of biochemistry, proteomics and mass spectrometry. His work focuses on understanding proteins and how they function in living organisms, specifically using mass spectrometry.

Personalized antibody therapies

Heck’s upcoming Mendel Lecture will focus on his recent research into personalized antibody responses, for which he was awarded in 2024 an ERC Advanced Grant. His team is developing advanced mass spectrometry techniques to explore the vast diversity and structural complexity of antibodies, the key proteins in our immune system that help identify and neutralize threats.

Unlike traditional approaches that rely on studying genetic material, Heck’s work directly analyses circulating antibodies from just a few drops of blood. This method allows his team to understand how individual antibody repertoires vary between people and how they change in response to diseases or treatments. This research has the potential to revolutionize our understanding of the immune system and lead to new therapies for infections, cancer, and autoimmune diseases.

I feel very privileged to be invited to give this year’s Mendel Lecture. Following in the footsteps of some of the most brilliant minds in life sciences makes this truly an honour for me

“I feel very privileged to be invited to give this year’s Mendel Lecture”, says Heck. “It is certainly exciting and inspiring to deliver such a lecture at the ‘birthplace’ of modern genetics, the beautiful monastery in Brno. Following in the footsteps of some of the most brilliant minds in life sciences makes this truly an honour for me. I visited the monastery garden, where they still grow the peas that led Mendel to his discovery of the rules of genetics.”

The Mendel Lectures, first established in 2003, are a prestigious series of scientific seminars held annually in Brno, Czech Republic. This city was the home base of Gregor Mendel, the founder of modern genetics, until his death in 1884. The lectures aim to highlight the latest discoveries in genetics, molecular biology, and related fields.

The Mendel Lecture took place today (17 October 2024). After the Lecture, Heck was awarded the Mendel Medal.