In 2018, the Hamburg life science company is presenting its highly prestigious research prize for the 23rd time. The independent Eppendorf Award Jury chaired by Prof. Reinhard Jahn selected Prof. 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 at the EMBL Advanced Training Centre in Heidelberg, Germany, on June 21, 2018. The laudatio honoring Andrea Ablasser’s achievements was held by Award Jury Chairman Prof. Reinhard Jahn of the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry, Göttingen.

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 defense when cells are attacked by microorganisms.  The Jury: “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: “I am greatly honored to receive the prestigious Eppendorf Award. It recognizes 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 defense 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 honors 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 Prof. Reinhard Jahn (Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry, Göttingen, Germany), Prof. Dieter Häussinger (Clinic for Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Infectiology, Düsseldorf, Germany), Prof. Maria Leptin (EMBO, Heidelberg, Germany), Prof. Martin J. Lohse (Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine in the Helmholtz Association, Berlin, Germany), and Prof. Laura Machesky (Cancer Research UK Beatson Institute, Glasgow, UK).