EPFL researcher receives prestigious German medical prize
Published: Tuesday, Sep 17th 2024, 11:00
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Three researchers have been awarded the Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter Prize for their findings on a fundamental signaling pathway of the immune system. The so-called cGAS-STING signaling pathway is "a foundation of our innate immune defense that has long been sought after," explained the Chairman of the Foundation Board, Thomas Boehm.
"With their discovery, the prizewinners have opened up the possibility of treating infections, cancer and inflammatory diseases more effectively than before." Drugs that intervene in this signaling pathway are currently under development.
The three researchers from universities in Switzerland and the USA share the prize money of 120,000 euros. The prize was awarded to researcher Andrea Ablasser from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL), virologist Glen Barber from Columbus/Ohio and biochemist Zhijian James Chen from Dallas.
The cGAS-STING signaling pathway is the alarm system that sounds when DNA penetrates the plasma of a cell in the event of infections, cancer or cellular stress, as the Board of Trustees explained in Frankfurt. The alarm system calls the police of the innate immune system into action.
Many laureates later receive Nobel Prize
Ablasser had already been awarded the Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter Prize for Young Scientists in 2014. The basic research work of the three prizewinners dates back to the years 2008 to 2013, but they have researched the topics in increasing detail over the past decade.
The Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter Prize is one of the most prestigious medical prizes in Germany. It honors scientists who have made outstanding contributions in the field of research represented by Paul Ehrlich, such as immunology, cancer research or chemotherapy. Many of those who have received this prize since 1952 have gone on to win a Nobel Prize.
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