Veit Hornung studied medicine at the University of Munich, Germany, where he obtained his doctoral degree and completed his first postdoctoral training. He then undertook further studies at the University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester, USA, before being appointed professor at the University of Bonn in 2008. He moved to Munich in 2015 as Chair of Immunobiochemistry at the Gene Center of the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich.

Innate immunity: deciphering the body’s ability to detect non-self

The innate immune system serves as the body’s first line of defence, tasked with distinguishing harmful invaders from the body’s own cells. This complex process relies on pattern recognition receptors (PRRs), specialised molecules that identify conserved molecular signatures associated with microbes or signals of cellular damage.

Veit Hornung has made seminal contributions to the field of innate immunity, significantly advancing our understanding of how PRRs recognise non-self, with a particular focus on nucleic acid (DNA and RNA) recognition. Nucleic acids from viruses and other pathogens are often interpreted by the body’s cells as “foreign”, triggering potent antiviral immune responses. The key question, however, is how nucleic acids, as universal building blocks of life, can still harbour subtle differences or contextual cues that allow cells to distinguish self from non-self. Hornung and his team have uncovered novel nucleic acid-sensing PRRs, they have identified molecular patterns that define non-self nucleic acids and elucidated how these patterns are recognised by PRRs. Central to this research, they contributed to our understanding of how DNA, the universal carrier of genetic information found in the nucleus of cells, is interpreted as non-self in the cyto-plasm, driving robust immune responses.

Through these efforts, Hornung’s work has defined key aspects of the molecular basis of innate immunity. His research not only provides critical insights into the molecular mechanisms of these pathways, but also highlights the potential for targeting them in the treatment of infectious and inflammatory diseases. By linking fundamental discoveries to potential therapeutic applications, his contributions have helped shape the future of this important field of immunology.

Louis-Jeantet Foundation’s selection committee:
Dario ALESSI, Geneviève ALMOUZNI, Marc DONATH, Catherine DULAC, Anne FERGUSON-SMITH, Michel GEORGES, Michael HALL, Stephen HARRISON, Marc LECUIT, Diane MATHIS, Rene MEDEMA, Paul NURSE, Peter RATCLIFFE, Caetano REIS E SOUSA, Caroline ROBERT, Alexander SCHIER, Markus STOFFEL, Antoine TRILLER, Gisou VAN DER GOOT, Juleen ZIERATH

Prof. Dr. Veit Hornung

Chair of Immunobiochemistry
Gene Center and
Department of Biochemistry
Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität Munich
Butenandtstr. 1
81377 Munich
Germany

hornung@genzentrum.lmu.de
www.genzentrum.lmu.de