Andrea Ablasser Wins the 2018 Eppendorf Young European Investigators Award

In 2018, the Hamburg life science company presented its highly prestigious research prize for the 23rd time. The independent Eppendorf Award Jury chaired by Professor Reinhard Jahn selected Professor Dr Andrea Ablasser, Assistant Professor at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Lausanne, Switzerland, as the 2018 winner of the Eppendorf Award for Young European Investigators.

The Award ceremony took place on 21 June 2018 at the EMBL Advanced Training Centre in Heidelberg, Germany. The Award Jury Chairman, Professor Reinhard Jahn of the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry, Göttingen, gave the laudatory speech honouring Andrea Ablasser’s achievements.

Andrea Ablasser, born 1983, receives the €20,000 prize for her contributions to a key step in the innate immune response, which triggers a frontline defence when cells are attacked by microorganisms. The Jury explained: “Andrea Ablasser’s work sheds light on the mechanisms by which other cells are informed about the presence of foreign DNA, and she has recently shown that the same pathway can be triggered in ageing cells, contributing to senescence. This work may lead to novel therapeutic approaches for both microbial infections and autoinflammatory syndromes.”

Andrea Ablasser said: “I am greatly honoured to receive the prestigious Eppendorf Award. It recognises the contributions of several gifted colleagues and students, who all took part in this long, but exciting research effort. We are fascinated by the fundamental mechanisms of innate immune recognition that enable defence against pathogens and hope that our research will in the future aid the development of new treatment options for human diseases.”

With the Eppendorf Young Investigator Award, which was established in 1995, Eppendorf AG honours outstanding work in biomedical research and supports young scientists in Europe up to the age of 35. The Eppendorf Award is presented in partnership with the scientific journal Nature. The Award winner is selected by an independent committee composed of Professor Reinhard Jahn (Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry, Göttingen, Germany), Professor Dieter Häussinger (Clinic for Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Infectiology, Düsseldorf, Germany), Professor Maria Leptin (EMBO, Heidelberg, Germany), Professor Martin J. Lohse (Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine in the Helmholtz Association, Berlin, Germany), and Professor Laura Machesky (Cancer Research UK Beatson Institute, Glasgow, UK).

More information about entry details, judging procedures, and past winners please click here.