Prizes & Awards

Partners in industry and research are aiming to optimise the diagnosis of cancer and other diseases with a novel microscopy technique. The QEED research project has been allocated a two-figure million sum in funding. ECRC scientist Hendrik Bartolomaeus is a member of the consortium.

Berlin-based research project MSTARS is entering its second round. Matthias Selbach and Fabian Coscia explain how the Max Delbrück Center is contributing, why the collaboration with Charité is so important, and how studying proteins in cells can help identify the best therapy for a patient.

Michael Potente wants to find out what makes blood vessels grow. For his work on the metabolic regulation of such growth, he has been selected as the recipient of the 2023 Judah Folkman Award from the North American Vascular Biology Organization.

Chromatin factors are involved in regulating gene expression. If they do not function properly, this can result in neurological impairments. Ana Pombo and Alexander Kukalev are now receiving almost €400,000 from the DFG for a research project that aims to shed more light on how these factors work.

Leif S. Ludwig, a researcher at the Max Delbrück Center and the Berlin Institute of Health at Charité (BIH), will receive the Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter Young Investigator Award 2023 for a new method to analyze the formation of blood cells, as the Scientific Council of the Paul Ehrlich Foundation announced today.

Organoids have to be fed and cared for continuously so that they can mature. So far, it is mostly a manual process – not suitable for industrial drug screening. Now, the European Research Council (ERC) has awarded Mina Gouti a Proof of Concept Grant to tackle scalability and reproducibility.

The UK’s Physiological Society has named Gary Lewin an Honorary Fellow. Two Nobel Prize laureates in Physiology or Medicine also received the distinction. It is the highest honor that the tradition-rich society presents to an individual.

They have their sights set on serious diseases: Gabriele G. Schiattarella analyzes mechanisms of heart failure, Simon Haas wants to improve immunotherapies for leukemia and Michael Sigal would like to prevent gastrointestinal diseases. Now, the ERC is awarding the researchers with a Starting Grant.

Ulrike Stein is searching for molecules that play a key role in metastasis, aiming to use them as therapeutic targets for solid tumors and to improve cancer prognosis. The Metastasis Research Society has recognized her work with this year’s Women in Science Achievement Award.

With funding from the Alzheimer’s Association, Melissa Birol hopes to uncover the molecular causes of age-related dementia. Her hypothesis is that a fatal interaction of tau and ApoE proteins prevents neurons from being supplied with sufficient fat, triggering their death.