Award ceremony: €420,000 for young researchers

The Jung Foundation for Science and Research honours two young doctors with the Jung Career Advancement Award and awards the Jung Gold Medal for Medicine

Hamburg, May 3, 2024. There was a premiere at the award ceremony hosted by the Jung Foundation for Science and Research yesterday evening: for the first time, the foundation presented the Jung Career Advancement Award to two promising young researchers. Both will receive the full funding sum of €210,000, highlighting the Jung Foundation’s current focus on supporting promising scientific young talents – a focus that it already set back in 2023 by awarding five scholarships to doctoral students as well as launching a new call for applications for a fellowship in medical history. The two Jung Career Advancement Awards went to cardiologist Dr med. Christine Maria Poch and neurologist Dr med. Maximilian U. Friedrich. In addition, the Jung Foundation also presented the Jung Gold Medal for Medicine to Professor Dr phil. Rudolf Zechner in recognition of his lifetime achievement in the field of medical research. The three laureates received their awards among the invited Jung family with personal acceptance speeches.

Here you can find the press release for download.

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Stimulating discussions, moving tributes, stirring acceptance speeches and much applause for the laureates: the atmosphere at this year’s award ceremony hosted by the Jung Foundation for Science and Research was lively and reverential. On the evening of May 2, 2024, in the company of the invited Jung family, the foundation presented this year’s awards for medical achievements at a ceremonial dinner held at the Anglo-German Club on the banks of Hamburg’s Outer Alster Lake. For the first time ever, two young researchers were the delighted to be awarded with the Jung Career Advancement Award: cardiologist Dr med. Christine Maria Poch and neurologist Dr med. Maximilian U. Friedrich both received €210,000 in prize money, which they can use as they see fit to continue their respective research projects. The Jung Foundation also presented the Jung Gold Medal for Medicine to Professor Dr phil. Rudolf Zechner.

Dr med. Christine Maria Poch was presented with one of the two Jung Career Advancement Awards 2024 for her research project entitled ‘Research into Cardiac Regeneration through Human Ventricular Progenitor Cells’. The young cardiologist simulates heart diseases in different three-dimensional models with the help of 3D printing technology, thus creating not only valuable platforms for researching cardiovascular diseases, but also the basis for new forms of therapy. She will now be given €210,000 by the Jung Foundation to continue this work.

Another Jung Career Advancement Award was presented this year to Dr med. Maximilian U. Friedrich for his project entitled ‘Brain in Balance: Translational Neuroanatomy and Connectome-Based Network Analysis of the Vestibular System’. The young neurologist is aiming to provide a better understanding of the brain networks of the vestibular system and thus create a basis for the development of innovative therapeutic approaches for neurological diseases such as stroke, multiple sclerosis and Parkinson’s disease. The Jung Foundation is making €210,000 available to him so that he can continue to pursue this approach.

The Jung Gold Medal for Medicine 2024 was presented to Professor Dr phil. Rudolf Zechner. He has received the award for his life’s work in the field of medical research, which has made a significant contribution to the study of lipid metabolism. Over the course of this work, he has not only fundamentally changed biochemistry and physiology textbooks, but also demonstrated promising strategies for treating metabolic disorders. In particular, his discovery and exploration of the adipose triglyceride lipase (ATGL) enzyme and its essential co-activator CGI-58 provided insight into the development and possible treatment of long-standing lipid storage diseases. The prize is accompanied by a scholarship totalling 30,000 euros, which Professor Zechner can award to a junior scientist of his choice.