Awards and Prizes

Major awards and prizes 

2026

Leif Ludwig has been awarded a Heisenberg professorship in stem cell dynamics and mitochondrial genomics, funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG). https://​www​.mdc​-berlin​.de/​n​e​w​s​/​n​e​w​s​/​l​e​i​f​-​s​i​-​h​u​n​-​l​u​d​w​i​g​-​a​w​a​r​d​e​d​-​p​r​o​f​e​s​s​o​rship 

Agnieszka Rybak-Wolf has been awarded a €200,000 research grant from the Alzheimer Forschung Initiative. https://​www​.mdc​-berlin​.de/​n​e​w​s​/​n​e​w​s​/​a​g​n​i​e​s​z​k​a​-​r​y​b​a​k​-​w​o​l​f​-​w​i​n​s​-​a​l​z​h​e​i​m​e​r​s​-​r​e​s​e​a​r​c​h​-​grant 

The Einstein Center for Early Disease Interception has been funded with €6 million. https://​www​.mdc​-berlin​.de/​n​e​w​s​/​n​e​w​s​/​n​e​w​-​o​p​p​o​r​t​u​n​i​t​y​-​b​erlin

2025

Nikolaus Rajewsky has been included in Clarivate’s Highly Cited Researchers 2025 list. https://​www​.mdc​-berlin​.de/​n​e​w​s​/​n​e​w​s​/​i​n​f​l​u​e​n​t​i​a​l​-​t​h​e​i​r​-​f​ields 

Ana Pombo has been named among the 100most important minds in Berlin science in 2025 by the newspaper Tagesspiegel. https://​www​.mdc​-berlin​.de/​n​e​w​s​/​n​e​w​s​/​f​i​v​e​-​b​e​r​l​i​n​-​b​a​s​e​d​-​l​e​a​d​i​n​g​-​m​i​n​d​s​-​h​o​nored 

Markus Mittnenzweig has been awarded a €1.5 million ERC Starting Grant https://​www​.mdc​-berlin​.de/​n​e​w​s​/​p​r​e​s​s​/​m​a​r​k​u​s​-​m​i​t​t​n​e​n​z​w​e​i​g​-​w​i​n​s​-​e​r​c​-​s​t​a​r​t​i​n​g​-​grant 

Michael Robson has won two new grants from the DFG and the Human Frontier Science Program totaling over €2 million. https://​www​.mdc​-berlin​.de/​n​e​w​s​/​n​e​w​s​/​m​i​c​h​a​e​l​-​r​o​b​s​o​n​-​a​w​a​r​d​e​d​-​g​r​a​n​t​s​-​s​t​u​d​y​-​c​h​r​o​matin 

The Max Delbrück Center is a partner in one newly awarded Berlin based Clusters of Excellence: ImmunoPreCept. Spokespersons are Britta Siegmund, Andreas Diefenbach (both at Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin), and Nikolaus Rajewsky. https://​www​.mdc​-berlin​.de/​n​e​w​s​/​p​r​e​s​s​/​m​i​l​l​i​o​n​s​-​f​u​n​d​i​n​g​-​t​w​o​-​c​l​u​s​t​e​r​s​-​e​x​c​e​l​lence 

2024

Ana Pombo has received the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize from the German Research Foundation (DFG). With a grant of €2.5 million, the Leibniz Prize is one of the highest endowed research prizes in Germany. https://​www​.mdc​-berlin​.de/​n​e​w​s​/​p​r​e​s​s​/​l​e​i​b​n​i​z​-​p​r​i​z​e​-​a​w​a​r​d​e​d​-​a​n​a​-​pombo 

Simon Haas has been awarded the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities (BBAW) Prize for the promotion of cancer research, sponsored by the Monika Kutzner Foundation. https://​www​.mdc​-berlin​.de/​n​e​w​s​/​n​e​w​s​/​b​b​a​w​-​p​r​i​z​e​-​c​a​n​c​e​r​-​r​e​s​e​a​r​c​h​e​r​-​s​i​m​o​n​-haas 

Nikolaus Rajewsky has been included in Clarivate’s Highly Cited Researchers 2024 list. https://​www​.mdc​-berlin​.de/​n​e​w​s​/​p​r​e​s​s​/​g​l​o​b​a​l​-​i​n​f​l​u​e​n​c​e​r​s​-​s​c​ience 

Simon Haas has received a Proof-of-Concept Grant from the European Research Council to a precision tool to predict the efficacy of immunotherapies. https://​www​.mdc​-berlin​.de/​n​e​w​s​/​p​r​e​s​s​/​s​i​m​o​n​-​h​a​a​s​-​a​w​a​r​d​e​d​-​e​r​c​-​p​r​o​o​f​-​c​o​n​c​e​p​t​-​grant 

Simon Haas has been awarded a Heisenberg professorship in systems hematology, funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG). https://​www​.mdc​-berlin​.de/​n​e​w​s​/​n​e​w​s​/​s​i​m​o​n​-​h​a​a​s​-​r​e​c​e​i​v​e​s​-​h​e​i​s​e​n​b​e​r​g​-​p​r​o​f​e​s​s​o​rship 

Melissa Birol receives €193,500 from the Alzheimer Research Initiative. https://​www​.mdc​-berlin​.de/​n​e​w​s​/​n​e​w​s​/​p​r​e​v​e​n​t​i​n​g​-​m​a​s​s​-​d​i​e​-​n​e​urons 

2023

Leif Ludwig is named EMBO Young Investigator. https://​www​.mdc​-berlin​.de/​n​e​w​s​/​n​e​w​s​/​l​e​i​f​-​l​u​d​w​i​g​-​n​a​m​e​d​-​e​m​b​o​-​y​o​u​n​g​-​i​n​v​e​s​t​i​gator 

Manuel Irimia receives €1.5 million from Stiftung Charité to establish a research group at MDC-BIMSB for an initial period of three years. https://​www​.mdc​-berlin​.de/​n​e​w​s​/​n​e​w​s​/​b​a​r​c​e​l​o​n​a​-​b​erlin 

Simon Haas has been awarded the Lisec-Artz Prize, endowed with €10,000, for his single-cell analysis of communication between stem and immune cells in blood cancer. https://​www​.mdc​-berlin​.de/​n​e​w​s​/​p​r​e​s​s​/​l​i​s​e​c​-​a​r​t​z​-​p​r​i​z​e​-​g​o​e​s​-​s​i​m​o​n​-haas 

Nikolaus Rajewsky has been included in Clarivate’s Highly Cited Researchers 2023 list. https://​www​.mdc​-berlin​.de/​n​e​w​s​/​p​r​e​s​s​/​i​n​f​l​u​e​n​t​i​a​l​-​t​h​e​i​r​-​field 

Leif S. Ludwig has won the Heinz Maier-Leibnitz Prize, granting him €200,000 to advance his research over a period of three years. https://​www​.mdc​-berlin​.de/​n​e​w​s​/​p​r​e​s​s​/​l​e​i​f​-​s​-​l​u​d​w​i​g​-​w​i​n​s​-​h​e​i​n​z​-​m​a​i​e​r​-​l​e​i​b​n​i​t​z​-​prize 

Markus Landthaler and Altuna Akalin have won grants for ​“pathfinder projects” from the Helmholtz Initiative and Networking Fund. https://​www​.mdc​-berlin​.de/​n​e​w​s​/​n​e​w​s​/​l​o​n​g​-​a​w​a​i​t​e​d​-​p​h​a​r​m​a​-​i​n​d​ustry 

Ana Pombo and Alexander Kukalev have been granted almost €400,000 from the German Research Foundation (DFG) to investigate how chromatin factors are involved in regulating gene expression. https://​www​.mdc​-berlin​.de/​n​e​w​s​/​n​e​w​s​/​c​r​a​c​k​i​n​g​-​c​h​r​o​m​a​t​i​n​-code 

Leif S. Ludwig has been awarded the Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter Young Investigator Award 2023. https://​www​.mdc​-berlin​.de/​n​e​w​s​/​p​r​e​s​s​/​p​a​u​l​-​e​h​r​l​i​c​h​-​f​o​u​n​d​a​t​i​o​n​-​h​o​n​o​r​s​-​l​e​i​f​-​s​-​l​udwig 

2022

Simon Haas has been awarded a European Research Council (ERC) Starting Grant. He will receive €1.5 million over five years. https://​www​.mdc​-berlin​.de/​n​e​w​s​/​p​r​e​s​s​/​e​r​c​-​s​t​a​r​t​i​n​g​-​g​r​a​n​t​s​-​b​e​r​l​i​n​-​s​c​i​e​n​tists 

Michael Sigal has been awarded a European Research Council (ERC) Starting Grant. He will receive €1.5 million over five years. https://​www​.mdc​-berlin​.de/​n​e​w​s​/​p​r​e​s​s​/​e​r​c​-​s​t​a​r​t​i​n​g​-​g​r​a​n​t​s​-​b​e​r​l​i​n​-​s​c​i​e​n​tists 

Nikolaus Rajewsky has been included in Clarivate’s Highly Cited Researchers 2022 list. https://​www​.mdc​-berlin​.de/​n​e​w​s​/​p​r​e​s​s​/​h​i​g​h​l​y​-​c​i​t​e​d​-​a​n​d​-​i​n​f​l​u​e​ntial 

Ana Pombo got elected as Fellow of the European Academy of Sciences.

Marina Chekulaeva has been accepted into the DFG Heisenberg program. https://​www​.mdc​-berlin​.de/​n​e​w​s​/​n​e​w​s​/​h​e​i​s​e​n​b​e​r​g​-​p​r​o​g​r​a​m​-​a​c​c​e​p​t​s​-​r​n​a​-​b​i​o​l​ogist 

Simon Haas has received the Young Investigator Award 2022 of the German Stem Cell Network (GSCN). https://​www​.mdc​-berlin​.de/​n​e​w​s​/​n​e​w​s​/​a​w​a​r​d​-​s​t​e​m​-​c​e​l​l​-​s​c​i​e​n​t​i​s​t​-​s​i​m​o​n​-haas 

Stefanie Grosswendt has been awarded a European Research Council (ERC) Starting Grant. She will receive €1.5 million over a period of five years. https://​www​.mdc​-berlin​.de/​n​e​w​s​/​p​r​e​s​s​/​e​r​c​-​a​w​a​r​d​s​-​b​o​u​n​d​a​r​y​-​p​u​s​h​i​n​g​-​ideas 

Jan Philipp Junker has been awarded a European Research Council (ERC) Consolidator Grant. He will receive €2 million over five years. https://​www​.mdc​-berlin​.de/​n​e​w​s​/​p​r​e​s​s​/​t​w​o​-​e​r​c​-​c​o​n​s​o​l​i​d​a​t​o​r​-​g​r​a​n​t​s​-​g​o​-​m​d​c​-​r​e​s​e​a​r​chers 

Darío Lupiáñez has been awarded a European Research Council (ERC) Consolidator Grant. He will receive €2 million over five years. https://​www​.mdc​-berlin​.de/​n​e​w​s​/​p​r​e​s​s​/​t​w​o​-​e​r​c​-​c​o​n​s​o​l​i​d​a​t​o​r​-​g​r​a​n​t​s​-​g​o​-​m​d​c​-​r​e​s​e​a​r​chers 

2021

Darío Lupiáñez has been selected as one of 26 researchers for the EMBO Young Investigator Programme. Starting in January 2022, Lupiáñez and his team will receive both financial and practical support for a period of four years. https://​www​.mdc​-berlin​.de/​n​e​w​s​/​n​e​w​s​/​d​a​r​i​o​-​l​u​p​i​a​n​e​z​-​n​a​m​e​d​-​e​m​b​o​-​y​o​u​n​g​-​i​n​v​e​s​t​i​gator 

Nikolaus Rajewsky has been included in Clarivate’s Highly Cited Researchers 2021 list. https://​www​.mdc​-berlin​.de/​n​e​w​s​/​n​e​w​s​/​t​h​r​e​e​-​m​d​c​-​r​e​s​e​a​r​c​h​e​r​s​-​a​m​o​n​g​-​m​o​s​t​-​h​i​g​h​l​y​-​cited 

Stefanie Grosswendt has received the BSIO Female Independence Award for her research on new methods to analyse cell interaction in embryos and neuroblastoma, an early childhood cancer, at the level of the individual cell. https://​www​.mdc​-berlin​.de/​n​e​w​s​/​n​e​w​s​/​s​i​n​g​l​e​-​c​e​l​l​-​r​e​s​e​a​r​c​h​e​r​-​s​t​e​f​a​n​i​e​-​g​r​o​s​s​w​e​n​d​t​-​w​i​n​s​-​award 

Virchow 2.0 has been chosen as one of the 15 finalists in the second round of the BMBF’s Clusters4Future competition. The Berlin-based network, coordinated by Nikolaus Rajewsky and Angelika Eggert (Charité), aims to build an AI-driven biomedical innovation ecosystem that will bring cell-based medicine to the clinic. https://​www​.mdc​-berlin​.de/​n​e​w​s​/​p​r​e​s​s​/​v​i​r​c​h​o​w​-​c​l​u​s​t​e​r​s​4​f​uture 

Jan-Philipp Junker has been awarded a DFG Sequencing Grant, together with fellow researcher Professor Nikolay Ninov from the Center for Regenerative Therapies Dresden (CRTD) at TU Dresden, for their research on cell regeneration in zebrafish. The DFG will fund a doctoral and a postdoctoral position and consumable materials as well as providing the two researchers with a budget of around €380,000 for the sequencing work. https://​www​.mdc​-berlin​.de/​n​e​w​s​/​n​e​w​s​/​t​o​w​a​r​d​s​-​b​e​t​t​e​r​-​u​n​d​e​r​s​t​a​n​d​i​n​g​-​s​e​l​f​-​h​e​aling 

Leif Ludwig has received the Hector Research Career Development Award for his research into the DNA of cellular power plants, the mitochondria. The award supports particularly talented young scientists as they embark on the first steps of their research careers. https://​www​.mdc​-berlin​.de/​n​e​w​s​/​n​e​w​s​/​a​w​a​r​d​-​s​i​n​g​l​e​-​c​e​l​l​-​r​e​s​e​a​r​c​h​e​r​-​l​e​i​f​-​l​udwig 

2020

Ana Pombo: Grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Common Fund — 4D Nucleome Program to support research of a multi-team consortium led by UC San Diego in the U.S on DNA organization inside cell nuclei and functions in space and time. https://​www​.mdc​-berlin​.de/​n​e​w​s​/​p​r​e​s​s​/​m​d​c​-​r​e​s​e​a​r​c​h​-​f​u​n​d​e​d​-​n​i​h​-​award

Nikolaus Rajewsky has been included in Clarivate’s Highly Cited Researchers 2020 list.

MDC researcher Jan Philipp Junker and his collaborator Maria Colomé-Tatché at Helmholtz Center Munich have received a €200,000 grant to improve big data processing to better understand how gene networks are wired together during development and disease. https://​www​.mdc​-berlin​.de/​n​e​w​s​/​p​r​e​s​s​/​j​u​n​k​e​r​-​h​e​l​m​h​o​l​t​z​-​a​i​-​grant

2019

Jan Philipp Junker: EMBO Young Investigator Award

Nikolaus Rajewsky has been included in Clarivate’s Highly Cited Researchers 2019 list. https://​www​.mdc​-berlin​.de/​n​e​w​s​/​p​r​e​s​s​/​h​i​g​h​l​y​c​i​t​e​d2019 

Stephan Preibisch und Thoralf Niendorf: https://​helmholtz​.de/​e​n​/​r​e​s​e​a​r​c​h​/​i​n​f​o​r​m​a​t​i​o​n​-​d​a​t​a​-​s​c​i​e​n​c​e​/​h​e​l​m​h​o​l​t​z​-​i​m​a​g​i​n​g​-​p​l​a​t​f​o​r​m​-hip/

2018

Marina Chekulaeva, DFG grant to dissect the mechanisms of miRNA function in establishment of neuronal polarity

Marina Chekulaeva, grant from the German-Israeli Foundation for Scientific Research and Development (GIF), with Igor Ulitsky, Weizmann Institute of Science

Marina Chekulaeva, Coordinator of the EU-JPND multi-national consortium ​“localMND: Common architecture of local proteome, transcriptome and translatome across Motor Neuron disorders” 

Uwe Ohler, DFG International Research Training Group 2403 ​“Dissecting and re-engineering the regulatory genome” (includes Pombo, Rajewsky, Zinzen) 

Ana Pombo, elected EMBO member

Stephan Preibisch, HFSP Program Grant 

Robert Zinzen, SPP1738.2 — Emerging roles of non-coding RNAs in nervous system development and disease

Altuna Akalin, Ulf Landmesser, BIH TT Fund Pharma 2017, use of circulating cell-free DNA methylation as a diagnostic tool

Mario Nicodemi, Einstein BIH Visiting Fellow, hosted by Ana Pombo 

Nikolaus Rajewsky, Norbert Hübner and Jan Philipp Junker, Chan Zuckerberg Initiative

Nikolaus Rajewsky, Stephan Preibisch, H2020 Innovative Training Grant ​„circRTrain“

2016

Altuna Akalin, BMBF Summer School, Computer-based genomics in systems and precision medicine

Altuna Akalin, Uwe Ohler, BMBF de.NBI (deutsche nationale Bioinformatik-Infrastruktur); Epigenetics network (lead Benedikt Brors, DKFZ)

Marina Chekulaeva, Markus Landthaler, Uwe Ohler, Nikolaus Rajewsky, Matthias Selbach, DFG SPP 1935 ​“Deciphering the mRNP code” (multiple subprojects)

Jan Philipp Junker, ARCHES prize of the Minerva Stiftung in collaboration with Erez Levanon, Bar-Ilan University, Israel

Jan Philipp Junker, European Research Council Starting Grant

Markus Landthaler, Uwe Ohler, BMBF e:Bio ​“caRNAtion” (lead Michael Gotthardt, MDC)

Markus Landthaler, GlaxoSmithKline Foundation’s Science Prize

Uwe Ohler, SFB TR175 ​“The green hub” (lead Dario Leister, LMU)

Roland Schwarz, Prize of the BBAW, donated by the Monika Kutzner Foundation

2015

Altuna Akalin, De.NBI — Establishment phase Central Coordination Unit (CCU): RNA Bioinformatics Center (RBC)

Altuna Akalin, Uwe Ohler, Nils Blüthgen, BIH/Terminate-NB

Uwe Ohler, Nikolaus Rajewsky, BMBF de.NBI (deutsche nationale Bioinformatik-Infrastruktur); RNA Bioinformatics Center (lead Rolf Backofen, Uni Freiburg)

Nikolaus Rajewsky, Jutta Steinkötter, Altuna Akalin, CORBEL (Coordinated Research Infrastructures Building Eduring Life-science services)

Baris Tursun, European Research Council Starting Grant

2014

Nikolaus Rajewsky, Human Frontier Science Program in collaboration with 3 international scientists

Robert Zinzen, SPP1738 — Emerging roles of non-coding RNAs in nervous system development and disease

Baris Tursun, FP7-PEOPLE-CIG, Marie-Curie Action

2012

Uwe Ohler, National Institutes of Health/​National Institute of General Medical Sciences, R01 Transformative Research Award (team with Dinshaw Patel, Tom Tuschl)

Uwe Ohler, HFSP research grant (team with Casey Bergman, Pavel Tomancak)

Nikolaus Rajewsky, Leibniz Award of the DFG

2010

Nikolaus Rajewsky, Science Award of the Governing Mayor of Berlin

2008

Nikolaus Rajewsky, Kick-off funding through the competitive federal initiative ​“Spitzenforschung in den neuen Bundesländern” (Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) & the Senate of Berlin)

Nikolaus Rajewsky, Global Distinguished Professor, New York University