During his studies, he spent about one year under Feodor Lynen's personal supervision at the Max Planck Institute of Cell Chemistry in Munich (1955/1956) as a scholarship holder of the German Studienstiftung.
Shortly after the birth of their first child, he continued his scientific training with Oliver H. Lowry in the department of pharmacology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri, United States (1963-1965).
After moving to the US he studied the metabolism of the insulin-producing pancreatic islets and ultimately discovered the essential role of glucokinase (liver and pancreas hexokinase)[4][5] in the regulation of glucose-stimulated insulin secretion.
[6] In subsequent studies, Dr Matschinsky illuminated a role for manipulation of glucokinase in correcting metabolic defects in human pancreatic islet cells and other tissues involved in type 2 diabetes.
Current knowledge on the role of glucokinase in the β cell and its misfunction causing diabetes is to a large extent based on work conducted by Dr Matschinsky over the years.