[Press release Unimedizin-Mainz.de from 29.07.2024 by Veronika Wagner] Prof. Dr. Andreas Bock will head the Institute of Pharmacology at the Mainz University Medical Center from August 1, 2024. The pharmacist will also take over the W3 professorship for pharmacology as the successor to Professor Dr. Ulrich Förstermann, who is retiring. Professor Bock researches the molecular processes of cell-cell communication with a particular focus on the importance of so-called G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) and their downstream cellular signaling processes. GPCRs control almost all physiological processes in the human body and represent one of the most important target structures for drugs. Before moving to Mainz, Andreas Bock was a W2 professor at the Rudolf Boehm Institute for Pharmacology and Toxicology at Leipzig University’s Faculty of Medicine.

“We are very pleased that with Professor Bock we have been able to recruit an excellent and committed researcher for the Department of Pharmacology at the Mainz University Medical Center,” said Professor Dr. Ralf Kiesslich, Chairman of the Executive Board and Chief Medical Officer of the Mainz University Medical Center. He added: “I am convinced that Professor Bock will successfully develop the Institute of Pharmacology in line with the times and align it with future opportunities and challenges.” 

In Mainz, Prof. Dr. Andreas Bock plans to deepen his previous research on the biology and pharmacology of G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) in order to develop new principles for the pharmacotherapy of various diseases.

“GPCRs are the largest family of membrane receptors in humans. They control almost every (patho)physiological process and are among the most important target structures of all drugs available worldwide. So far, only a fraction of all existing GPCRs can be addressed with drugs that are typically associated with adverse drug reactions. In my laboratory, we are investigating fundamental, novel mechanisms of GPCR function with a focus on the spatial and temporal manifestations of GPCR-mediated cellular signaling processes. By mechanistically understanding the dynamics of complex GPCR signaling pathways and their dysregulation in diseased cells, we hope to develop novel pharmacological targets for spatially and temporally specific drug therapy,” explains Professor Bock.

Until now, the prevailing view has been that GPCRs only exist in a switched-off and switched-on state. It was also assumed that an activated GPCR generates an equally strong signal at every location within a cell. Professor Bock’s team was able to show that GPCRs can control very different signals simultaneously at different subcellular sites. These consist of nanometer-sized cell spaces, known as nanodomains, in which signals can be amplified or deleted in a site-specific manner, according to the findings of Professor Bock’s team of scientists.

At his new workplace in Mainz, Professor Bock plans to further decipher the intracellular signaling pathways downstream of GPCRs and the nanodomains, in particular with the help of high-resolution microscopy methods. In addition to cardiovascular diseases, the focus will be on immunological and immuno-oncological issues. Professor Bock would also like to contribute his expertise to existing collaborative research projects at the Mainz University Medical Center.

“With the successful appointment of Professor Bock to the W3 professorship for pharmacology, we have succeeded in attracting an outstanding researcher whose scientific focus, particularly with regard to the field of immunotherapies and the collaborative research centers already established in Mainz, fits very well with the research profile of the Mainz University Medical Center,” emphasized the acting Scientific Director of the Mainz University Medical Center, Prof. Dr. Hansjörg Schild.

With the start in Mainz, Prof. Dr. Andreas Bock succeeds Prof. Dr. Ulrich Förstermann, who was on leave from April 2013 to March 2024 for his professorship and his function as Director of the Institute of Pharmacology during his term as Scientific Director and Dean of the Mainz University Medical Center. Andreas Bock takes over the management of the Institute from the previous acting director, Prof. Dr. Leszek Wojnowski. The entire Executive Board of the Mainz University Medical Center would like to thank Leszek Wojnowski for his valuable work.

About the person: 
Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Andreas Bock, born on March 25, 1984 in Bonn, studied pharmacy at the University of Bonn from 2003 to 2008 with a stay abroad at the University of Valencia (Spain) and received his license to practice pharmacy in 2009. He received his doctorate in pharmacology and toxicology from the Pharmaceutical Institute at the University of Bonn in 2013. After his doctorate, he deepened his research at the Institute of Pharmacology and Toxicology at the University of Würzburg and at the Department of Pharmacology at the University of California San Diego (USA). From 2017 to 2021, Professor Bock worked at the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine in the Helmholtz Association (MDC) in Berlin. From the beginning of 2020 until the end of 2021, he was the acting head of the “Signaling Processes of Receptors” working group there. In January 2022, Andreas Bock was appointed W2 Professor at the Rudolf Boehm Institute of Pharmacology and Toxicology at Leipzig University’s Faculty of Medicine.

Picture caption: Univ.-Prof. Dr. Andreas Bock becomes the new Director of the Institute of Pharmacology at the Mainz University Medical Center and takes over the W3 professorship for Pharmacology.  
Image source: UM/Markus Schmidt
Press contact: Veronika Wagner M. A., Corporate Communications, Mainz University Medical Center, Telephone: 06131 17-8391, e-mail:

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