Ralph Bock elected to LeopoldinaProf. Dr. Ralph Bock, director at Max Planck Institute for Molecular Plant Physiology, is now member of Leopoldina, the German National Academy of Sciences. He held a PhD fellowship from September 1993 to August 1996 and is professor of biochemistry and plant biotechnology.
The Leopoldina is the world’s oldest academy involved in natural sciences. It was founded in 1652 and was appointed Germany's National Academy of Sciences in July 2008. Scientists are elected members who have distinguished themselves by demonstrating academic excellence.
Oliver Daumke is co-author of an article in NATURE In the May 27th edition of the journal Nature, B.I.F. fellow Oliver Daumke appears as co-author of an article in the section "Letters". The topic of the article: "Structural basis of oligomerization in the stalk region of dynamn-like MxA". Congratulations! Oliver held a fellowship from January 2002 until January 2004.
More information can be found at:
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v465/n7297/full/nature08972.html
Doctorate degree honoris causa for Christian HaassProf. Dr. Dr. h.c. Christian Haass, professor for biochemistry at Ludwig-Maximilians University in Munich, Germany, is now holder of a honorary degree from Switzerland: The University of Zurich's medical school awarded him a doctorate degree honoris causa as a recognition of his contributions to the field of intramembrane proteolysis and neurodegeneration. Christian Haass held a postdoctoral fellowship from B.I.F. from June 1990 to May 1991.
More information:
www.biochemie.abi.med.uni-muenchen.de/news/awards/20100424/index.html
B.I.F. fellow Christine Selhuber-Unkel has received an Emmy Noether GrantDr. Christine Selhuber-Unkel, who held a B.I.F. fellowship from February 2004 to August 2006, has received an Emmy Noether Grant from the DFG (German Research Foundation). She is now junior professor at the Institute for Materials Science (Faculty of Engineering) at Christian-Albrechts-University in Kiel, Germany. Congratulations!
Rainer Friedrich is co-author of an article in NATURETogether with a colleague from the Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research in Basel, Switzerland, B.I.F. fellow Rainer Friedrich has published an article in the May 6th, 2010 edition of Nature (vol. 465). Their take on "Olfactory pattern classification by discrete neuronal network states" can also be found online at www.nature.com/nature.
Further information:
http://www.fmi.ch/
The Otto Bayer Prize 2010 goes to B.I.F. fellow Detlef WeigelProf. Dr. rer. nat. Detlef Weigel, director at the Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology in Tübingen (Germany) is the 2010 winner of the Otto Bayer Prize. The Otto Bayer Prize was initiated in 1984, carries a value of 75.000 Euros and is awarded every two years by the Bayer Science and Education Foundation. Weigel, who held a B.I.F. fellowship from January 1987 to December 1988, will receive the prestigious award in February 2010. Weigel’s former awards include the Leibniz Prize, the highest honor awarded in German research, which is awarded by the DFG (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft / German Research Foundation).
Tim Gollisch honored with Bernard Katz Lecture awardAt the November meeting of the Israel Society for Neuroscience, Dr. Tim Gollisch gave the Bernard Katz Lecture. The 36-year-old scientist was distinguished for his fundamental research on visual coding; the process by which visual images arriving at the eye's retina are transformed into electrical impulses that can be understood by the brain. At the award ceremony, Tim Gollisch lectured on: "Neural Code and Circuitry for Rapid Image Processing in the Retina".
Tim Gollisch held a B.I.F. fellowship from April 2001 to March 2003 and is head of the Independent Junior Research Group “Visual Coding” at the Max Planck Institute of Neurobiology in Martinsried. Former awards include the Humboldt Prize for his doctoral thesis at the Humboldt University in Berlin.
Humboldt professorship for B.I.F. fellow Joachim HerzJoachim Herz, professor of molecular genetics at the University of Texas in Dallas (USA) and honorary professor at the University of Freiburg (Germany), has been awarded an Alexander von Humboldt professorship. He is scheduled to become Department Director at the Centre for Molecular Neurobiology Hamburg (ZMNH), which is part of the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, and to continue his research in the field of molecular receptors in the brain. Joachim Herz has been honored with numerous awards, including the Humboldt Foundation’s Wolfgang Paul Award in 2001, as well as the Heinrich Wieland Prize in 2007. Further information: http://www.humboldt-foundation.dehttp://www.utsouthwestern.edu
Biotech-Award from the German government for B.I.F. fellow Florian KreppelNovember 13, 2009. B.I.F. fellow Florian Kreppel from the University of Ulm is among the winners in the third round of the prestigious biotech competition “GO-Bio” funded by the German government. His biotech research initiative is to have a share of the 14 million euros the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research has awarded to a total of six winning teams. With their project DENOVO (Development of a novel genetic vaccine platform), Kreppel and his team from the university’s Division of Gene Therapy hope to find better ways to fight diseases like AIDS, malaria or hepatitis C. Their idea: Establishing a platform technology that allows for a systematic optimization of the transport vehicles needed for genetic immunizations. Thus optimized, the transport vehicles of the respective vaccines can more effectively target defence cells in the human blood. This can boost the immune system and, in turn, significantly lower the risk of an infection. With the government funds, Kreppel and his team plan to advance their ideas and eventuelly found a company. Read more: http://www.bmbf.de http://www.biotechnologie.de http://idw-online.de
Ivan Dikic is awarded the Sir Hans Krebs Prize for his research on ubiquitinNovember 13, 2009. For his findings on the decomposition of defective proteins in cells, Professor Ivan Dikic from the University of Frankfurt has been awarded the Sir Hans Krebs Prize. The Prize is endowed with 10.000 euros and awarded by the society of friends of the Hannover University Medical School. Ivan Dikic’s award-winning findings are a continuation of the research on ubiquitin, a protein whose function was discovered but not yet understood in detail by the 2004 Nobel Prizes Laureates for Chemistry. Ubiquitin helps identify damaged proteins in cells resulting in their destruction, thus playing an important part in keeping cells clean from dangerous and potentially carcinogenic waste. With his research, Dikic has increased significantly our understanding of the formation of tumors. Ivan Dikic is one of five scientists who received the Boehringer Ingelheim Fonds Research Award for Postdoctoral Fellows. He has since received numerous prizes, such as the 2006 Award for Outstanding Achievement in Cancer Research of the American Association for Cancer Research for his work on the regulation of cellular signalling and cancer pathogenesis. Dikic was the first scientist from Europe to receive this prestigious prize. Read more: http://www.mh-hannover.dehttp://www.biochem2.com http://www.krebs-kompass.org
B.I.F. fellow Kristin Tessmar-Raible has been awarded one of the START prizes of the Austrian Research Fonds (Wissenschaftsfonds).B.I.F. fellow Kristin Tessmar-Raible, group leader at the Max F. Perutz Laboratories at the University of Vienna, has been awarded one of the START prizes of the Austrian Research Fonds (Wissenschaftsfonds). The START prizes are granted to outstanding, up-and-coming scientists and are endowed with up to EUR 200.000 annually for six years. They shall enable young scientists to establish their own research programme and laboratory. Kristin Tessmar-Raible works on the mechanisms of lunar rhythms in the model system Platynereis dumerilii, a small marine worm. Lunar rhythms are crucial to ensure reproduction in a wide range of marine organisms ranging from fish, sea urchins and corals to algae. Further information at: http://www.fwf.ac.at/de/public_relations/press/pa20081110.htmlhttp://www.dieuniversitaet-online.at/beitraege/news/wittgenstein-preistrager-markus-arndt-und-start-preise-2008/65.html
25th anniversary of the founding of the Boehringer Ingelheim Fonds (B.I.F.)B.I.F. set to work in 1983 with an annual budget of 650,000 € and as a ‘South-German’ endeavour. In 2007, its budget amounted to 4.3 million € p.a. and the Foundation has become truly international: nearly two-thirds of the current fellows work outside Germany, one third is not German. The number of applications for PhD fellowships and travel grants has steeply increased. While four of the seven applicants received a PhD fellowship at B.I.F.’s very first Board meeting in 1983, there are now up to 180 applications three times per year and the success rate has dropped to less than 10%. In 1983, the names of those very first fellows were recorded in handwriting. Today, B.I.F. could not cope without the technical progress of the last 25 years and the Trustees’ pre-selection which some 30% of the applicants pass. Hasso Schroeder was the first managing director of B.I.F. Thanks to his scientific connections scientists of high calibre dedicated themselves to the work of the foundation from the very first hour. These Trustees spent much time and energy drawing up a profile for B.I.F. that has required only slight adaptation over the last 25 years. The Foundation’s concessions to changes in the scientific world were the discontinuation of its lecture tours, the postdoctoral fellowships and the award for postdoctoral fellows. Since then, B.I.F. has focused on the International Titisee Conferences, travel grants and – by far its largest programme – the PhD fellowships. Their value and personal support have increased significantly to remain attractive for the very best students and, as of the year 2002, they were also made available to European scientists working in Europe and overseas and scientists from overseas who work in Europe. One thing has remained constant throughout the years – the organization of the Titisee Conferences. Breakthroughs and milestones in the scientific world come thick and fast, detailed discussions have thus rightly remained one of the highest priorities. The 100th International Titisee Conference is scheduled for autumn 2009. So the Foundation shall be making hay once more…  Download PDF (212 KB, German)
Ernst Jung Prize for Medicine 2007 for B.I.F. fellow Stefanie DimmelerStefanie Dimmeler, professor at the University of Frankfurt, Frankfurt am Main (Germany) was awarded the Ernst Jung Prize for Medicine 2007 for her work on progenitor cells in the cardiovascular system. This prestigious international award, endowed by the Jung Foundation for Science and Research, recognizes outstanding scientific discoveries that have a major impact in experimental medicine. Co-winners of the 2007 award are Andreas Zeiher, University of Frankfurt, and Josef M. Penninger, Institute of Molecular Biotechnology in Vienna (Austria). Further information at: http://www.jung-stiftung.de/jung-stiftung/start.htmlhttp://www.molekulare-kardiologie.de/
Two B.I.F. fellows, Michael Boutros and Carsten Mehring, received GO-Bio Awards of the BMBF.Dr. rer. nat. Michael Boutros, group leader at the German Cancer Research Centre (DKFZ) in Heidelberg, Germany, was awarded one of the GO-Bio Awards (endowed with 3,1 Mio. Euros) by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) for his work on the development of cancer drugs by combining genomic und drug screening methodologies. The award shall support the translational aspect of his research results. Michael Boutros held a B.I.F. fellowship from March 1997 to February 1999. Dr. rer. nat. Carsten Mehring, group leader at the University of Freiburg, Germany, received the GO-Bio Award for the translation of his research results into neuroprostheses for paralysed patients. Carsten Mehring held a B.I.F. fellowship from December 1999 to November 2002. Further information at: http://www.biotechnologie.de/bio/generator/Navigation/Deutsch/foerderung,did=45754.html.
Leibniz Prize for B.I.F. fellow Stefanie Dimmeler, University Frankfurt.Professor Dr. rer. nat. Stefanie Dimmeler, head of the molecular cardiology division at Frankfurt University, received Germany's most prestigious scientific award, the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize of the DFG (German Research Foundation), for her pioneering work on the damage and regeneration of blood vessels. Further information at: http://www.dfg.de/aktuelles_presse/pressemitteilungen/2004/presse_2004_68.html
Fellowship Holders of the Boehringer Ingelheim Fonds Outstanding.First comprehensive study on peer review for the allocation of fellowships to young scientists.
For further information see this page.
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