Press releases

• Robert Koch Prize 2022 for Philip Felgner and Drew Weissman
• Honor for his life's work: Robert Koch Medal in Gold for Jörg Hacker
• Prizes for three post-doctoral students 2022: Anna Both, Moritz Gaidt and Paul Wratil
• 25th Anniversary of the Post-Doctoral Award: Two-day symposium

Berlin - "The future of mRNA is enormous," said Prof. Dr. Drew Weissman in his acceptance speech during the festive award ceremony at the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences. Together with lipofection developer Dr. Philip Felgner, the pioneer in the field of mRNA therapies has now been awarded the Robert Koch Prize, which is endowed with 120,000 euros. Prof. Dr. Jörg Hacker received the Robert Koch Medal in Gold for his life's work. The speech was given by Federal Minister of Health Prof. Dr. Karl Lauterbach.

"We still face major challenges in the fight against infectious diseases. " With these words, the Chairman of the Board of the Robert Koch Foundation, Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Plischke, opened the ceremony. "Significant changes in medical practice have many mothers and fathers, but are usually only possible on the basis of fundamental scientific discoveries. Today we honor researchers who have made such fundamental discoveries, the Robert Koch Award winners Professor Felgner and Professor Weissman."

Before the "big" prizes were awarded, the Robert Koch Foundation honored young scientists. The Chairman of the Scientific Advisory Board, Prof. Dr. Andreas Radbruch, introduced Dr. Anna Both, Dr. Paul Wratil and Dr. Moritz Gaidt and their work and presented them with the Postdoctoral Award 2022 for Microbiology, Virology and Immunology, respectively. The prize is endowed with 5,000 euros each.

"Millions of lives saved"

"There is a magic to this prize," said Karl Lauterbach about the fact that the Robert Koch Prize has been a "prediction" for the Nobel Prize 14 times already. The scientific advisory board of the Robert Koch Foundation often makes a "pinpoint selection" when deciding on the winners. It is also noteworthy that the work of this year's laureates and their teams have "saved the lives of millions of people“.

Drew Weissman, a professor of medicine at the Perelman School of Medicine of the University of Pennsylvania in the USA, succeeded in modifying mRNA in such a way that it is no longer recognized by cells as foreign and therefore no longer triggers a defense reaction. This has enabled mRNA vaccines to play a crucial role in overcoming the Corona pandemic. "But this award is not for me alone - it is absolutely an award for my lab colleagues and my team," says Drew Weissman.

"I've been looking forward to this moment every day for months," Philip Felgner (director of the Irvine Vaccine Research and Development Center and the Protein Microarray Laboratory and Training Facility at University of California, USA) said in his speech. "I grew up in a time when technologies were developing rapidly. Being involved in science to this day has always been rewarding for me, but to have the opportunity to interact with so many other scientists at events like this is a gift.“ Philip Felgner was honored for the development of lipofection, a technology that is not only the basis of modern mRNA vaccines, but is also widely used in basic research and is a key medical technology for delivering drugs into cells.

"Jörg Hacker: Germany's most important microbiologist".

"He is Germany's most important microbiologist," said Prof. Sebastian Suerbaum, MD, of the Foundation's Scientific Advisory Board, in his laudatory speech about Jörg Hacker, who was awarded the Robert Koch Medal for his life's work. "His vita reads like the history of German virology, immunology and vaccinology. " Jörg Hacker was not only a role model as head of the Institute for Molecular Infection Biology in Würzburg, as president of the Robert Koch Institute and as president of the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, but was also a very special person, well-read, clever as well as always helpful, modest and loyal, he said.

In his acceptance speech, Jörg Hacker said: "Robert Koch was a gifted scientist and a role model for me. This award is a great honor for me. My life's journey was always supported by collegial friendships and by my family."

The day before, many of the post-docs of the past 25 years had already arrived for a series of exciting lectures from their colleagues. "The symposium was an extraordinarily successful 'meeting'," said Wolfgang Plischke during the ceremony on Friday, assessing the preceding two-day alumni meeting of the post-doc award winners on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the award. The alumni symposium was organized by virologist Prof. Dr. Christian Drosten, microbiologist Prof. Dr. Mathias Hornef and immunologist Prof. Dr. Max Löhning.

The Robert Koch Award ceremony was streamed live on the Internet. The evening was hosted by science journalist Christina Satori, with Julia Raphaela Kasprzak on the violin providing the musical accompaniment.

Information for editorial offices and journalists:
All posts around the event will be hashtagged #RobertKochAward.Y ou can subscribe to the press releases of the Robert Koch Foundation here.

Please follow the Foundation on Twitter at @RKStiftung. More information about the award winners is also available in their own words in the Foundation's podcast: https://www.robert-koch-stiftung.de

Contact:
Mareike Graepel, Tel: +49 (0)1520-4788752, E-Mail: info@mareikegraepel.com

• Award ceremony in Berlin: Robert Koch Prize for Hospital Hygiene and Infection Prevention 2022 for Geneva professor Stephan Harbarth
• Award was internationally announced for the first time
• Nosocomial infections cost 1.5 billion Euro per year
• "Maybe there is peace in microbiologist heaven now".

Berlin, 8. September 2022 – Prof. Dr Stephan Harbarth has been awarded the Robert Koch Prize for Hospital Hygiene and Infection Prevention 2022, worth 50,000 Euro. In his acceptance speech at the St. Elisabeth Church in Berlin, the Geneva professor with roots in the Allgäu region expressed a clear wish: "Better screening, even of asymptomatic patients, in Germany."

The Chairman of the Board of the Robert Koch Foundation e.V., Prof. Dr Wolfgang Plischke spoke at the beginning about the historical relevance of the prize. "This prize is very much in the tradition of Robert Koch, who was appointed the first professor of the Hygiene Institute of the Medical Faculty of Friedrich Wilhelm University in Berlin in 1885," he said, pointing out that the challenges of the past "have not disappeared". "The pandemic has revealed that. "

"We have seen many trends in recent years that run contrary to transparent practices around the world," said Dr Meinrad Lugan, Member of the Board at B. Braun SE, underlining the importance of the award, also for society and politics. "That is why it is intended to create transparency in research and results and serve as an incentive. "In addition to the medical problems caused by nosocomial infections, Prof. Dr. Christian Straub, Chairman of the Board of BARMER GEK, also mentioned economic factors for the relevance of hospital hygiene and infection prevention: "Every year, 1.5 billion Euro in additional costs are incurred because of these infections and multi-resistant germs."

B. Braun SE and BARMER GEK together provide the prize money for the award, which is endowed with 50,000 Euro.

Stephan Schwartze, Member of the Bundestag, was on hand as the Federal Government Commissioner for Patients' Affairs. He congratulated the award winner and described Stephan Harbarth's work as "deeply impressive", calling his commitment "exemplary": "There is still a lot to do. This prize carries enormous weight."

"Fewer new antibiotics are being developed at the moment, or if they are, they are 'cousins' of already known classes of antibiotics to which germs quickly become resistant," Prof Harbarth said in a short film about his life. "We need original, creative developments in the field of antibiotics. " Prof. Dr Petra Gastmeier from the Charité gave the laudatory speech for Stephan Harbarth. As a long-time colleague and companion, she had nominated him for the award - because he deserved to be honoured not only for his research successes, but also for his tenacity in tackling international challenges when cultural differences and legal issues made the work more difficult, and because he initiated a lot of change, in the name of his colleagues, too. "I checked: With over 50 fellows in Australia, Asia and South America, among other places“ Harbarth has given a lot of impetus to young researchers and "very much deserves this award", she said.

Stephan Harbarth is a professor at the University of Geneva responsible for all aspects of hospital epidemiology and infection control in the Department of Internal Medicine at Geneva University Hospitals. His main interest is in the epidemiology, transmission and prevention of infections caused by multidrug-resistant microorganisms, pathogens that are immune to multiple antibiotics and are therefore a major problem in hospitals.

"A prize like this is never an individual achievement, but a team effort," said Prof. Dr Stefan Harbarth, thanking his staff after Prof. Dr Wolfgang Plischke and Prof. Dr Andreas Radbruch presented him with the prize on behalf of the Robert Koch Foundation. "I am grateful for many opportunities I have in Geneva. " He went on to thank the Foundation, his family, his wife, who always granted him "academic freedom", and his mentors such as Prof. Dr Don Goldmann in Boston, USA, and Prof. Dr Didier Pittet in Geneva.

Stephan Harbarth dedicated his prize to the German-French scientific friendship, because: "It was 140 years ago to the month that Louis Pasteur and Robert Koch came to blows at a hygiene congress in Geneva because of a translation error. "Koch had believed that Pasteur had called the Germans "arrogant" or "presumptious". Throughout their lives, they were at each other in scientific journals. "If we dedicate this award to Pasteur and Koch together, the two of them might become friends up there in microbiologist heaven," Stephan Harbarth added with a twinkle in his eye.

In a short live talk with the evening's moderator, science journalist Christina Sartori, Stephan Harbarth and Andreas Radbruch spoke about the impact of the pandemic on the development of work in the field of hospital hygiene and infection prevention. "The pandemic has been 'louder' in recent years than the 'silent pandemic' of hospital germs," said Stephan Harbarth. But there are also good things, he said: "Now we have studies looking at nosocomial infections in the context of Covid."

For the first time, the prize, which is awarded by the Robert Koch Foundation every two years, was also announced internationally. The background: "There are so many good candidates," said Andreas Radbruch at the end of the award ceremony.

Ian Istomin, a student at the Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach Music High School in Berlin, a young student at the Academy of Arts and a scholarship holder of the Jürgen Ponto Foundation, played "Image op. 38" by Eugène Bozza at the start and "Fantasia Nr 2" by Georg Philipp Telemann at the end of the award-giving ceremony, on the transverse flute.

ABOUT STEPHAN HARBARTH:

Prof. Dr Stephan Harbarth is a professor at the University of Geneva and responsible for all aspects of hospital epidemiology and infection control in the Department of Internal Medicine at Geneva University Hospitals.

His main interest is the epidemiology, transmission and prevention of infections caused by multidrug-resistant microorganisms, pathogens that are immune to multiple antibiotics and therefore represent a major problem in hospitals. His first study in this field was published in 1999. Since then, he has investigated the effectiveness and combination of infection control measures, measures for the detection, typing and elimination of such pathogens, especially methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus bacteria (MRSA), vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE). Stephan Harbarth always kept in mind the threat to public health posed by pathogens that are resistant to several antibiotics at the same time (MDRO: multi-drug resistant organisms) and the health economic aspects and incentives to develop new antibiotics.

In addition to his scientific excellence, Stephan Harbarth is also an outstanding author, a valued speaker at international conferences, known for his clear and substantive evidence-based statements on infection control measures.

He is on the editorial board of high-ranking journals and organises the global congress ICPIC in Geneva (International Congress of Prevention and Infection Control) with 1,000 participants representing not only hospitals from privileged countries but also those from low-income countries.

As a member of "SWISS noso", he works as part of the team to develop recommendations for infection prevention in Switzerland and has served as a scientific advisor to the European Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the World Health Organization (WHO) and JPIAMR (Joint Programming Initiative on Antimicrobial Resistance).

About the Robert Koch Foundation

The Robert Koch Foundation e.V. is a non-profit foundation for the promotion of medical progress, founded in 1907 and based in Berlin. It promotes basic scientific research in the field of infectious diseases as well as exemplary projects to solve medical and hygiene problems. Every year, the foundation awards several high-ranking scientific prizes: the Robert Koch Prize, which is one of the most important scientific awards in Germany, the Robert Koch Gold Medal, three awards for young scientists and, since 2013, the Prize for Hospital Hygiene and Infection Prevention.

Robert Koch (1843 - 1910), after whom the prize is named, founded modern bacteriology. For this he received the Nobel Prize for Medicine and Physiology in 1905. Koch headed the Institute for Infectious Diseases in Berlin from 1891 until his retirement in 1904.

Further information:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/robert-koch-stiftung/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/RKStiftung

Want to know more? Then the new podcast of the Robert Koch Foundation is worth a listen: Scientists talk about their jobs in an exciting and comprehensible way. The first episodes are available at https://www.robert-koch-stiftung.de, and on all popular podcast platforms.

Contact:
Sabine Timmermann, Tel: +49 (0)214 30-70285, E-Mail: info@robert-koch-stiftung.de

• From the jury decision: "A remarkable scientist in hospital epidemiology and infection control in Europe".
• Prize worth 50,000 Euro to be awarded in Berlin on 6 September

Berlin, August 11, 2022 – Stephan Harbarth will receive the Robert Koch Prize for Hospital Hygiene and Infection Prevention 2022. The 50,000 Euro prize will be awarded on 6 September in Berlin - one year late due to the pandemic. The jury describes the Swiss scientist as "remarkable" and his work as extensive and instrumental in the development of hospital hygiene.

Prof. Dr Stephan Harbarth is a professor at the University of Geneva and responsible for all aspects of hospital epidemiology and infection control in the Department of Internal Medicine at Geneva University Hospitals. He will receive the Robert Koch Prize for Hospital Hygiene and Infection Prevention 2022, awarded every two years and endowed with 50,000 Euro, for "extensive and continuous work in the field of hospital epidemiology and infection control in Europe to improve the scientific basis of infection control measures". Stephan Harbarth has significantly influenced developments in this field over the past 20 years. The award is a great tribute to the research work of this remarkable scientist.

His main interest is the epidemiology, transmission and prevention of infections caused by multidrug-resistant microorganisms, pathogens that are immune to multiple antibiotics and therefore represent a major problem in hospitals. His first study in this field was published in 1999. Since then, he has investigated the effectiveness and combination of infection control measures, measures for the detection, typing and elimination of such pathogens, especially methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus bacteria (MRSA), vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE). Stephan Harbarth always kept in mind the threat to public health posed by pathogens that are resistant to several antibiotics at the same time (MDRO: multi-drug resistant organisms) and the health economic aspects and incentives to develop new antibiotics.

In addition to his scientific excellence, Stephan Harbarth is also an outstanding author, a valued speaker at international conferences, known for his clear and substantive evidence-based statements on infection control measures.

He is on the editorial board of high-ranking journals and organises the global congress ICPIC in Geneva (International Congress of Prevention and Infection Control) with 1,000 participants representing not only hospitals from privileged countries but also those from low-income countries.

As a member of "SWISSnoso", he works as part of the team to develop recommendations for infection prevention in Switzerland and has served as a scientific advisor to the European Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the World Health Organization (WHO) and JPIAMR (Joint Programming Initiative on Antimicrobial Resistance).

Award is both an honour and a motivation: preventing hospital-acquired infections saves thousands of lives every year

With the Prize for Hospital Hygiene and Infection Prevention, the Robert Koch Foundation honours published work of the past years, but also wants to contribute to the initiation of new projects.

"This prize is both an honour and a motivation," says Chairman of the Board Prof. Dr Wolfgang Plischke. "In Germany, about half a million patients fall ill with hospital-acquired infections every year - more than 10,000 of them with a fatal outcome.“ These are dramatic figures.

"An improvement of hospital hygiene measures and new strategies for the therapy and prevention of infections acquired in connection with a medical procedure are urgently needed."

The Robert Koch Prize for Hospital Hygiene and Infection Prevention is financially supported by B. Braun SE and BARMER, which provide the prize money of 50,000 Euro.

About the Robert Koch Foundation

The Robert Koch Foundation e.V. is a non-profit foundation for the promotion of medical progress, founded in 1907 and based in Berlin. It promotes basic scientific research in the field of infectious diseases as well as exemplary projects to solve medical and hygiene problems. Every year, the foundation awards several high-ranking scientific prizes: the Robert Koch Prize, which is one of the most important scientific awards in Germany, the Robert Koch Gold Medal, three awards for young scientists and, since 2013, the Prize for Hospital Hygiene and Infection Prevention.

Robert Koch (1843 - 1910), after whom the prize is named, founded modern bacteriology. For this he received the Nobel Prize for Medicine and Physiology in 1905. Koch headed the Institute for Infectious Diseases in Berlin from 1891 until his retirement in 1904.

Information for editors and the public:

Save the date: The award ceremony of the Robert Koch Prize for Hospital Hygiene and Infection Prevention 2022 will take place on 6 September at 4 pm at the St. Elisabeth Kirche (Invalidenstr. 3, 10115 Berlin).

The event will be streamed on LinkedIn, the profiles are:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/robert-koch-stiftung/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/RKStiftung

All posts around the event will be hashtagged #RobertKochAward.

Contact:
Sabine Timmermann, Tel: +49 (0)214 30-70285, E-Mail: info@robert-koch-stiftung.de

Robert Koch Prize 2022 for Philip Felgner and Drew Weissman

• Lifetime achievement award: Jörg Hacker receives Robert Koch Medal in Gold
• Save the date: Award ceremony on November 11, 2022 in Berlin

Berlin – The Robert Koch Prize 2022 will be awarded to Philip Felgner and Drew Weissman. The two US scientists are being honored for fundamental contributions to the transfer of nucleic acids into cells – a pioneering technology for use in infectious diseases, but also in gene therapy and the treatment of cancer. Thus helping to create mRNA vaccines which played a crucial role in the management of the Corona pandemic. The award ceremony will take place in Berlin on November 11, 2022

"When the public talks about sensational developments that save the lives of thousands and even millions of people, scientists already have spent many long years of research and tireless and patient work. Often experiencing obstacles and detours on their way before they reach their goal," says Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Plischke, Chairman of the Robert Koch Foundation. „Therefore, this year, we are honoring two scientists whose groundbreaking work is currently having a major impact on the development of vaccines – and at the same time we want to send a signal that, in addition to fighting the Corona pandemic, research into vaccines is also paving the way for protecting people from other diseases."

Prof. Dr. Andreas Radbruch, Chairman of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Robert Koch Foundation, adds: "With Philip Felgner and Drew Weissman, we honor two scientists who were the first to make the medical use of biological information carriers, nucleic acids, possible. They have developed methods to introduce these 'messengers' into cells, and to prevent the cells' natural defense response."

The winners of the Robert Koch Prize 2022:

Dr. Philip Felgner is the director of the University of California, USA, Irvine Vaccine Research and Development Center and Protein Microarray Laboratory and Training Facility. His research areas are the structure and function of cell membranes, which create order in the cell, and how to introduce substances into cells.

Philip Felgner is awarded the Robert Koch Prize 2022 for the development of lipofection, a technology in which active ingredients are packaged in socalled liposomes, i.e. surrounded by a membrane that resembles the cell membrane. On contact with a cell, the membranes of the liposome and the cell fuse. This is how the active ingredient is introduced into the cell. As early as 1989, Philip Felgner successfully introduced nucleic acids into cells this way, and showed that the cells then also produce the proteins whose blueprints the nucleic acids encode. Liposome technology is not only the basis of modern mRNA vaccines, it is widely used in basic research and is a key technology in medicine for introducing active substances into cells.

Prof. Dr. Drew Weissman is Professor of Medicine at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, USA. He is a pioneer in the field of mRNA therapies.

If nucleic acids are introduced into cells, they are recognized by the cells as foreign and the cells react as if they were infected with a virus. Together with Katalin Karikó, who was awarded the Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter Prize this year, Drew Weissman succeeded in modifying mRNA in such a way that it is no longer recognized as foreign by the cells and therefore no longer triggers a defense reaction. In the process, certain natural building blocks of the nucleic acids are replaced by unconventional building blocks. This development made the widespread use of mRNA vaccines possible for the first time, because it made the side effects acceptable.

Philip Felgner and Drew Weismann will be jointly awarded the Robert Koch Prize 2022, which is endowed with 120,000 Euro.

Robert Koch Medal in Gold

Prof. Dr. Jörg Hacker has dedicated his life to science and the promotion of science in an outstanding way and is being awarded the Robert Koch Medal in Gold for his life achievements.

Jörg Hacker is "not only an outstanding scientist," the then Federal Minister of Health, Ulla Schmidt, said of him in 2008. "He knows how to share his findings with others and to communicate science in a way that people outside his field can understand."

Jörg Hacker is a pioneer in molecular infection research. In 1983, he described the so-called "pathogenicity islands" of bacteria, genetic elements that contain several genes that can, for example, trigger a disease in us in a coordinated manner. These genetic elements are only loosely anchored in the genome of bacteria, or they are even passed on separately. They can be easily exchanged between bacteria. Thus, harmless bacteria can very quickly evolve into dangerous pathogens. Or bacteria can exchange genes that make them resistant to antibiotics. Through his research, Jörg Hacker has made a decisive contribution to understanding the evolution of microbial pathogens.

After studying in Halle, Jörg Hacker worked at the University of Würzburg from 1980, and from 1993 as head of the Institute for Molecular Infection Biology. From 2008 to 2010 he was president of the Robert Koch Institute in Berlin, and from 2010 to 2020 president of the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina. Under his aegis, the Leopoldina evolved into the German Academy of Science, the national, independent advisory body it is today. In his many roles as a shaper of science, Jörg Hacker has made a unique contribution to the development of the framework conditions for research in Germany.

About the Robert Koch Foundation

The Robert Koch Foundation e.V. is a non-profit foundation for the promotion of medical progress, established in 1907 and based in Berlin. It promotes basic scientific research in the field of infectious diseases as well as exemplary projects to solve medical and hygienic problems. Every year, the foundation awards several high-ranking scientific prizes: the Robert Koch Prize, which is one of the most important scientific awards in Germany, the Robert Koch Gold Medal, three awards for young scientists and, since 2013, the Prize for Hospital Hygiene and Infection Prevention.

Robert Koch (1843 - 1910), after whom the prize is named, founded modern bacteriology. For this he received the Nobel Prize in Medicine and Physiology in 1905. Koch headed the Institute for Infectious Diseases in Berlin from 1891 until his retirement in 1904.

Information for editors and the public:

Save the date: The Robert Koch Award and Gold Medal Ceremony will take place in Berlin, on Friday, November 11, 2022, at 4:30 p.m. at the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities (Jägerstraße 22-23, 10117 Berlin).

The event will be streamed on LinkedIn, the profiles are:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/robert-koch-stiftung/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/RKStiftung

All posts around the event will be hashtagged #RobertKochAward.

Contact:
Sabine Timmermann, Tel: +49 (0)214 30-70285, E-Mail: info@robert-koch-stiftung.de

• Robert Koch Prize 2021 for Yasmine Belkaid and Andreas Bäumler double ceremony also honors last year's winners Shimon Sakaguchi and Thomas F. Meyer
• Robert Koch Gold Medal 2021 for Kyriacos Costa Nicolaou
• Post-Doctoral Student Awards 2021: Megan Stanifer, Kilian Schober and Katharina Anna Christina Schaufler
• Awards for Post-Doctoral Students 2020: Petra Bacher, Stephanie Pfänder, Michael Sigal

Berlin – In a double ceremony and for the first time in conjunction with a live discussion with the Scientific Advisory Board, the Robert Koch Prize 2021, the Robert Koch Gold Medal 2021, and the awards for the post-doctoral fellows of the year have been presented at the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities. Since last year's award ceremony could only take place online, the Foundation had also invited the award winners from 2020 and honored them in person.

"For the first time in the history of the Foundation, we are streaming this event on the Internet this year," explained the Chairman of the Board of the Robert Koch Foundation, Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Plischke, in his welcome address at the hybrid award ceremony. „Not only because not all guests can be on site, but also to open ourselves equally to all people who are interested in research. The pandemic shows how important science is to the general public." He sees previous laureates present in the media almost daily today who are intensively involved in Covid 19 research, such as Prof. Dr. Antonio Lanzavecchia and Prof. Dr. Rafi Ahmed (Robert Koch Prize 2017), Prof. Dr. Christian Drosten (Postdoctoral Prize 2004) and Prof. Dr. Anthony S. Fauci (Robert Koch Medal in Gold 2013), among others.

Honorary doctorate of Robert Koch found in an old desk

The President of the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, Prof. Dr. Gerald H. Haug, quoted from Robert Koch's speech on the occasion of his Nobel Prize in 1905 with regard to the fight against tuberculosis: "If the work is continued in this powerful way, victory must soon be won. " Unfortunately, he said, this has not yet come true; ten million people still contract the lung disease every year, and 1.5 million of them die from it. "That is why the importance of research in a pandemic cannot be praised highly enough. “

Prof. Dr. Dr. Christoph Markschies, who was broadcasting from San Francisco, explained how he found Robert Koch's honorary doctorate certificate in an old desk - and how tangible and important the inspiration from the foundation's namesake is for research. Now it is not just for experts in virology, immunology and microbiology.

Due to the 2020 ceremonies being moved to the internet, the Robert Koch Foundation first honoured the previous year's award winners now partly in attendance: Prof. Dr. Shimon Sakaguchi (Robert Koch Prize 2020) was unfortunately unable to attend in person, but Prof. Dr. Thomas F. Meyer (Robert Koch Gold Medal 2020) was on hand. He said, "Science always has a people-bonding element. " Prof. Dr. Stephanie Pfänder accepted the post-doctoral awards for herself and Prof. Dr. Petra Bacher and as well as for post-doctoral researcher Dr. Michael Sigal, who both could not be present.

With Dr. Megan Stanifer, Dr. Katharina Anna Christina Schaufler and Dr. Kilian Schober, two young scientists and one young researcher received the prize for post-doctoral students 2021, which is endowed with 5,000 euros. The science journalist Christina Sartori, who moderated the ceremony, spoke with all three about details of their work and had them explain the background and goals of their research. .

"We need to confront the tone in society"

Prof. Dr. Yasmine Belkaid and Prof. Dr. Andreas Bäumler together received this year's Robert Koch Prize, which is endowed with 120,000 euros. They had first presented their groundbreaking research results to an audience of over 100 scientists in online lectures in the morning.

Before this year's prizewinners received their prizes in a festive ceremony, for the first time, instead of individual laudations, there was a round of talks with the scientific advisory board, represented by Prof. Dr. Heidrun Moll from the Institute of Molecular Infection Biology in Würzburg, Prof. Dr. Dr. Jürgen Heesemann from the Max von Pettenkofer Institute for Hygiene in Munich and Prof. Dr. Peter Hammann from Sanofi-Aventis Deutschland GmbH in Frankfurt.

In his laudation of the award winner, State Secretary Dr. Thomas Gebhardt said on behalf of the Federal Ministry of Health: "We all have a lot to thank science for, especially during the pandemic; every week we learn something new. " He added that it was an important signal that the award ceremony was taking place in this form. "The perception of science among the general public has changed: Today virologists have more social media following than politicians or actors. " However, he also spoke about the flip side, criticizing hostility against scientists. "We have to counter this tone in society. “

"If it weren't for these women, I wouldn't be standing here today"

Prof. Dr. Yasmine Belkaid found moving words of thanks: "My grandmothers made it possible for me to stand here today - the Algerian one was married off as a child and could not enjoy an education, and the French one was not allowed to go into science either. But as a pharmacist, she taught me what a microflora is. Without these two women, I would not be standing here today. To them and to all the other women in the world, I thank you from the bottom of my heart. " Yasmine Belkaid's research has shown in an authoritative way how the bacteria that colonize our gut and skin train our microflora, our immune system, helping us to fight off infectious agents, but on the other hand, to accept food as harmless.

In his speech, Prof. Dr. Andreas Bäumler also thanked his family: "I wanted to become a scientist, even though neither of my parents come from this field. They always gave me the freedom to decide on my career path myself. " He was honoured for his pioneering work on understanding how the cells of the intestinal epithelium regulate the composition and function of our microflora.

Both acceptance speeches underlined another importance of the Robert Koch Prize: the inspiration and motivation for young scientists.

Life achievement: Hundreds of natural substances made available for medicine

Prof. Dr. Kyriacos Costa Nicolaou received the 2021 Robert Koch Gold Medal for his life's work, but was unable to accept it in person. In a thank-you sent via video message, he also spoke about the long-standing personal relationships with science in Germany. Kyriacos Costa Nicolaou has developed chemical synthesis routes for hundreds of natural substances, making them available for widespread use, especially in medicine. In the process, he often succeeded in gaining the first synthetic access to the target compound, exemplified by the cancer drug paclitaxel and the antibiotic vancomycin.

The musical entertainment was provided by cellist Jakob Daniel Seel. The event was held in compliance with 2G+ rules and hybrid.

About the Robert Koch Foundation

The Robert Koch Foundation e.V. is a non-profit foundation for the promotion of medical progress, established in 1907 and based in Berlin. It promotes basic scientific research in the field of infectious diseases as well as exemplary projects to solve medical and hygienic problems. Every year, the foundation awards several high-ranking scientific prizes: the Robert Koch Prize, which is one of the most important scientific awards in Germany, the Robert Koch Gold Medal, three awards for young scientists and, since 2013, the Prize for Hospital Hygiene and Infection Prevention.

Robert Koch (1843 - 1910), after whom the prize is named, founded modern bacteriology. For this he received the Nobel Prize for Medicine and Physiology in 1905. Koch headed the Institute for Infectious Diseases in Berlin from 1891 until his retirement in 1904.

Contact:
Sabine Timmermann, Tel: +49 (0)214 30-70285, E-Mail: info@robert-koch-stiftung.de

Kyriacos Costa Nicolaou awarded Robert Koch Gold Medal

Awards for post-doctoral researchers Megan Stanifer, Kilian Schober and Katharina Anna Christina Schaufler

Berlin, October 28, 2021 - Prof. Dr. Yasmine Belkaid and Prof. Dr. Andreas Bäumler will be awarded the Robert Koch Prize on 19 November 2021 in Berlin for their groundbreaking research on the importance of microflora for the human immune system and the role of intestinal epithelium in the composition of microflora and related effects in infectious and inflammatory diseases.

The prize, endowed with 120,000 euros, is one of the most prestigious scientific awards in Germany.

Furthermore, Prof. Dr. Kyriacos Costa Nicolaou is awarded the Robert Koch Medal in Gold. Three young scientists Dr. Megan Stanifer, Dr. Kilian Schober and Dr. Katharina Anna Christina Schaufler will each receive a prize endowed with 5,000 euros.

"At a time when science and research are constantly at the centre of public interest and are often the subject of unfiltered discussion on social networks, it is more important than ever to honour the hard work, unwavering diligence and thirst for knowledge of all the men and women who have dedicated their lives to medicine and biology," says Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Plischke, Chairman of the Robert Koch Foundation. "Once again this year, we want to use the award winners to draw attention to the importance of behind-the-scenes work in health care and medical progress, and the impact it has on society as a whole, among the general public and politicians alike.“

Robert Koch Prize

The Robert Koch Prize is shared this year to recognize groundbreaking research that shows how, on the one hand, our microflora train our immune system, and on the other hand, our intestinal epithelium determines the composition of our microflora, and what role disruptions of this dialogue between microflora and us play in infectious and inflammatory diseases.

The Algerian-French immunologist Yasmine Belkaid received her PhD in 1996 from the Institut Pasteur in France on innate responses to Leishmania infections. She then worked at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) in the USA on the regulation of the immune response to Leishmania. After a three-year research stay in Cincinnati, she moved back to NIAID in 2005 as a research associate, where she now directs the microbiome program. She is also a professor at the University of Pennsylvania.

The research of Yasmine Belkaid has shown in an authoritative way how the bacteria that colonize our intestines and skin train our microflora, our immune system, and thus help us to fight off infectious agents, but on the other hand to accept food as harmless. In the case of chronic inflammation of the intestine or skin, this dialogue between the microflora and the immune system is disturbed, resulting in a disturbance of the immune balance, which contributes decisively to diseases such as Crohn's disease (chronic inflammation of the intestine) and psoriasis. But also nutrient deficiencies can disturb the dialogue between microflora and immune system, the immune system needs energy in the form of carbohydrates and fat, but also metabolites of the microflora to be able to react well against pathogens and vaccines, and to maintain immunity for years.

Together with Yasmine Belkaid, Andreas Bäumler is awarded the Robert Koch Prize. Andreas Bäumler studied biosciences in Tübingen and did his doctorate on iron uptake and iron-regulated genes in the bacteria Escherichia coli and Yersinia enterocolitica. He subsequently conducted research at Oregon Health Sciences University in the USA, and from 1996 at Texas A&M University. Since 2005, he has been a professor at the University of California at Davis.

Andreas Bäumler is being honoured for his pioneering work on understanding the regulation of the composition and function of our microflora by the cells of the intestinal epithelium. He was able to show that cellular respiration of the intestinal cells and their energy metabolism play an essential role in this. If, for example, the intestinal cells change their metabolism during an inflammation, the composition of the microflora changes, resulting in a so-called dysbiosis, which can have a decisive influence on the course of the disease, e.g. in the case of intestinal inflammations, but also in the case of rheumatism or neuritis. Andreas Bäumler's research provides completely new and original starting points for restoring the balance between microflora and the human body in these diseases.

Robert Koch Gold Medal

Kyriacos Costa Nicolaou receives the Robert Koch Gold Medal for his life's work. He was born in Cyprus in 1946 and moved to the UK in 1964. He studied chemistry at the University of London and completed his bachelor's degree at Bedford College in 1969. In 1972 he obtained his PhD and then went first to Columbia University, and then to Harvard University, where he worked extensively on chemical methods for the synthesis of natural products. In 1976, Kyriacos Costa Nicolaou was appointed to a professorship at the University of Pennsylvania. There he developed methods for the synthesis of prostaglandins and macrolides. Particularly impressive were the syntheses of the endiandric acids, based on pericyclic cascade reactions. In 1989, Kyriacos Costa Nicolaou moved to a professorship at the University of California at San Diego, and established a research group at the Scripps Research Institute in San Diego.

He is credited with making the Scripps Research Institute one of the most important centers for synthetic chemistry and chemical biology in the world. Between 2005 and 2011, he also led a laboratory for chemical synthesis of natural products in Singapore at the ICES‐A*STAR Institute. In 2013, he moved to Rice University in Houston, Texas, where he continues to teach and conduct research today. Kyriacos Costa Nicolaou has developed chemical synthesis routes for hundreds of natural products, making them available for widespread use, especially in medicine, often gaining the first synthetic access to the target compound, exemplified by the anticancer drug paclitaxel and the antibiotic vancomycin.

Post-Doctoral Prizes

Megan L. Stanifer, Heidelberg, receives the Postdoctoral Award in Virology 2021 in recognition of her work on the regulation of immune homeostasis at mucosal surfaces. She works in the laboratory of Dr. Steeve Boulant at University Heidelberg. She was awarded the prize for her investigations into the interaction of intestinal epithelial cells with bacteria of the micro‐ flora, as well as bacteria and viruses that are pathogens. She was able to show how intestinal cells specifically only recognise viruses and bacteria that have overcome the mucosa and have penetrated into the interior of the body, and how the intestinal cells are thus able to differentiate harmless microflora from pathogens. The mother of two children is a good role model for the fact that it is possible to combine a successful academic career with a family life.

Kilian Schober, Erlangen, receives the Postdoctoral Award for Immunology 2021 in recognition of his work in the field of translational T cell research. He studied medicine in Würzburg and did his doctorate on the role of autophagy in the pathogenesis of diabetes mellitus. From 2014 to 2021, he worked at the Institute of Medical Microbiology, Immunology and Hygiene at the Technical University of Munich. He is being awarded for his work on the development of T lymphocytes in an immune reaction against cytomegaloviruses, and the establishment of a method to transfer particularly effective antigen receptors to other T lymphocytes. This could be used to produce cells for immunotherapy. Since 2021, Kilian Schober has headed a research group at the Institute of Clinical Microbiology, Immunology and Hygiene at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg.

Katharina Anna Christina Schaufler, Kiel, receives the Postdoctoral Award for Hygiene and Microbiology 2021. Katharina Schaufler received her PhD from Freie Universität Berlin in 2016, then worked at Harvard Medical School until 2018. Since 2019 she has been working at the Institute of Pharmacy at the University of Greifswald, since 2020 as head of an independent junior research group and since May 2021 she is at CAU Kiel. Katharina Schaufler is awarded for her work on elucidating the mechanisms and spread of antibiotic resistance, in particular multidrug‐resistant (MDR) Gram‐negative and ‐positive bacteria from the families Enterobacteriaceae and Enterococcaceae. Her work provides the basis for identifying particularly dangerous developments, but also opens up new therapeutic possibilities by addressing the resistance mechanisms. Beyond her scientific work, Katharina Anna Christina Schaufler impresses with her dedication, curiosity and creativity with which she takes up innovations.

About the Robert Koch Foundation

The Robert Koch Foundation e.V. is a non-profit foundation for the promotion of medical progress, founded in 1907 and based in Berlin. It promotes basic scientific research in the field of infectious diseases as well as exemplary projects to solve medical and hygienic problems. Every year, the foundation awards several high-ranking scientific prizes: the Robert Koch Prize, which is one of the most important scientific awards in Germany, the Robert Koch Gold Medal, three awards for young scientists and, since 2013, the Prize for Hospital Hygiene and Infection Prevention. Robert Koch (1843 - 1910), after whom the prize is named, founded modern bacteriology. For this he received the Nobel Prize for Medicine and Physiology in 1905. Koch headed the Institute for Infectious Diseases in Berlin from 1891 until his retirement in 1904.

Information for editors and the public:

The award ceremony will take place in Berlin, on November 19, 2021 at 4:30 pm at the Berlin Brandenburg Academy of Sciences.

The event will be streamed on LinkedIn, the profiles are:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/robert-koch-stiftung/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/RKStiftung

All posts surrounding the event will be hashtagged #RobertKochAward.

Contact:
Sabine Timmermann, Tel: +49 (0)214 30-70285, E-Mail: info@robert-koch-stiftung.de

Since 2013, the Foundation grants every two years the Robert Koch Award for Hospital Hygiene and Infection Prevention for scientific work and practical measures in the field of hospital hygiene and infection prevention. The award, which carries a prize of 50,000 euros, is financially endowed by B. Braun Melsungen AG and BARMER. “Given the current situation we are all in, the price is of high relevance and we hope to receive many applications” says Professor Wolfgang Plischke.

Please find more details for nominating here.

Berlin – Last Saturday the Robert Koch Foundation awarded the 2020 Robert-Koch-Prize, with an endowment of 120,000 euros, to Professor Shimon Sakaguchi, Head of Immunology Frontier Research Center (IFReC) at University Osaka (Japan).

Professor Thomas F. Meyer, senior professor at Christian-Albrechts-University Kiel (CAU), received the Robert-Koch-Medal in Gold for his lifetime achievement.

Both prizes were handed over by Professor Plischke and Professor Radbruch during a virtual honorary conference. The official festive ceremony at the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities is postponed to next year.

This year’s Robert-Koch-Prize honours Sakaguchi’s ground-breaking work on regulatroy T-cells.

Professor Thomas F. Meyer received the Robert-Koch-Medal in Gold in particular for his achievemetns in the field of molecular infection biology.

Post-doctoral awards for young scientist

Also presented at the virtual ceremony were the Post-doctoral Awards for outstanding work by young scientists, which are each endowed with prize money of 5,000 euros. The candidates were nominated by the German Societies for Hygiene and Microbiology, Immunology and Virology.

The Post-doctoral Award for Immunology went to Prof. Dr. Petra Bacher, Institute of Clinical Molecular Biology & Institute of Immunology of Christian-Albrechts-University Kiel, in regognition for her work of regulating human immunanswers.

The Post-doctoral Award for Virology went to Prof. Dr. Stephanie Pfaender, Dept. f. Molecular and Medicinal Virology, Ruhr-University of Bochum, in recognition of her work on biology of corona viruses.

Dr. med. Michael Sigal, Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, received the Post-doctoral Award for Microbiology in recognition for his work on understanding of gastrointestinal infections.

Photos from the award ceremony may be downloaded for editorial use at:

www.robert-koch-stiftung.de/en/awards/award-ceremonies
Kindly observe the copyright.

About the Robert Koch Foundation

The Robert Koch Foundation is a non-profit foundation dedicated to the promotion of medical progress. It was founded in 1907 and is based in Berlin. The Foundation promotes basic scientific research in the field of infectious diseases, as well as exemplary projects that address medical and hygienic issues.

The Foundation confers a number of distinguished scientific awards each year: the Robert Koch Award – one of Germany’s most distinguished scientific awards, the Robert Koch Gold Medal, three awards for young scientists and, since 2013, the Hospital Hygiene and Infection Prevention Award.

Robert Koch (1843 – 1910), after whom the award is named, was the founder of modern-day bacteriology, for which he was awarded the 1905 Nobel Prize for Medicine and Physiology. From 1891 until his retirement in 1904, Koch was Head of the Institute for Infectious Diseases in Berlin.

Contact:
Sabine Timmermann, Tel: +49 (0)214 30-70 28 5, E-Mail: info@robert-koch-stiftung.de

FURTHER INFORMATION

Press release (PDF)