In 2020, Prof. Dr. Nenad Ban and a group of Swiss researchers identified a mechanism by which Sars-CoV-2 takes control of human cells. This mechanism causes cells to reduce the production of their own cells, while the production of virus cells is accelerated.
“Excellence is a choice.” This is the motto of Prof. Emmanuelle Charpentier’s life, which she also and especially follows in her scientific work. For this excellent research, she has now been awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2020. In 2013, the researcher developed the CRISPR-Cas9 system along with her US colleague Jennifer Doudna. This system enables the targeted switching off or correction of defective genes. Its numerous application possibilities make it so special.
We are pleased to welcome Professor Dr. Dominique Soldati-Favre to our Board of Trustees with immediate effect. She has headed the Institute of Microbiology and Molecular Medicine at the University of Geneva since 2020, after previously working at the same university from 2011 to 2019 as Vice Dean for Research and Careers. Her current research projects are about decoding the molecular mechanisms that ensure the gliding motility and invasion of the host cell by the Toxoplasma and Plasmodium and parasite metabolism governing chronic infection.
Our Board of Trustees Chair Professor Christian Büchel has been awarded the Advanced Grant of the European Research Council (ERC) for the second time. Prof. Büchel is director of the Institute for Systemic Neurosciences at the UKE (University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf) and is exploring how acute pain develops into chronic suffering with his “PainPersist” research project. Over the next five years, the project will receive a total of 2.5 million euros under the EU’s “Horizon 2020” funding programme.
Professor Tobias Moser, Ernst Jung awardee 2017, and his research team succeeded in combining gene therapy in the cochlear with light stimulation from a multichannel optical cochlear implant for the first time. This could result in a fundamental improvement in hearing with an optical cochlear implant in the future, as light can be better narrowed down spatially compared to electricity, thus enabling a more precise stimulation of the auditory nerve.
A promising option for the prevention and treatment of HIV-1 infections is the use of broadly neutralizing antibodies targeting the HIV-1 envelope protein. However, their clinical application may be limited if the virus develops resistance. With the participation of Ernst Jung career award 2018 winner Till Schoofs, a highly broad and potent antibody has now been discovered that targets the CD4 binding site of HIV-1[1].
Where there is one prize, a second is soon to follow: In March, our award winner 2018 Professor Dr. Marco Prinz was awarded the prestigious Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize. The German Research Foundation (DFG) thus honours his outstanding work in the field of neuroimmunology.
For the third time in a row, the Hamburg Jung Foundation for Science and Research is contributing to the Deutschlandstipendien at the University of Hamburg. Students that are especially gifted, engaged in voluntary work or have special needs receive monthly financial support. The University of Hamburg has been awarding Deutschlandstipendien in all faculties since 2015. In accordance with its objective, the Jung Foundation supports medicine students.
Due to the spread of the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 and the resulting restrictions to public life, we have decided to postpone our award ceremony to 20 May 2021.
Hamburg, 23 May 2019. This year, the Ernst Jung Prize for Medicine of the Jung Foundation for Science and Research goes to two outstanding researchers. Martinsried-based biochemist Professor Brenda A. Schulman is receiving the award in recognition of her continued pioneering work on the mechanisms of ubiquitin transfer at the atomic level. Berlin neurobiologist Professor Gary R. Lewin is being honoured for his ground-breaking research on the molecular and physiological basis of tactile sense and pain perception.Zur Pressmitteilung