Since 2016, the GDCh Division of Biochemistry has been awarding the Young Scientist Award Biochemistry to recognize outstanding research achievements in the field of biochemistry - proven either by a dissertation or an original publication in a scientific journal. The award comes with an award certificate and prize money of 2,000 euros. The award is decided by a panel of experts appointed by the Division Board . From 2024, up to two prizes will be awarded per year.
Deadline: 30 April 2024
Objective
The Division of Biochemistry of the German Chemical Society (GDCh) will award up to two prizes in 2024 to recognize outstanding research achievements in the field of biochemistry – to be demonstrated either by a dissertation or a selected original publication in a scientific journal.
The price
Each award is accompanied by a certificate and prize money of 2000 euros. The prizes will be awarded during the Biochemistry 2024 Division conference , which will take place from September 30th to October 2nd, 2024 in Dortmund. The prize awardee will be invited to present their award-winning work in a short lecture. The costs for attending the conference will be borne by the Division. The award winners will be decided by a panel of experts appointed by the Division Board .
Nomination/Application
Nominations can be made by the academic supervisor, but applications are also possible. The academic publication must be published between January 1 and December 31, 2023; the doctoral examination must be no more than 4 years old at the time of publication. The dissertation must be completed in 2023 (including defense). All proposals consist of a brief justification of the academic supervision, the CV of the nominee (including contact details) and the academic work itself.
submission
Please send your suggestions in electronic form and summarized in a PDF file to the GDCh Office for the attention of Maike Fries.
The Young Scientist Award of the Division of Biochemistry of the German Chemical Society was presented to Dr. Jan Felber and Dr. Wout Oosterheert on September 5, 2023, on the occasion of the GDCh Science Forum on Chemistry in Leipzig.
"The prize is awarded to Dr. Jan Felber in recognition of his dissertation entitled "Rational development of stabilized cyclic disulfide redox probes and bioreductive prodrugs to target dithiol oxidoreductases," which he wrote in the working group of Dr. Oliver Thorn-Seshold at the Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich. Jan Felber has made a significant contribution to a better understanding of enzyme cascades in redox biochemistry through the systematic development of complex disulfide structures and their use for the cellular activation of novel molecular probes by special oxidoreductases. Due to the modularity of the molecular system, his work also promises considerable potential for the use of such disulfide units for the targeted activation of drugs."
"The prize is awarded to Dr. Wout Oosterheert in recognition of his publication entitled “Structural basis of actin filament assembly and aging,” which he prepared in the working group of Prof. Dr. Stefan Raunser at the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Physiology in Dortmund and published in the journal Nature.
In this work, Wout Oosterheert determined high-resolution cryo-EM structures of F-actin in all nucleotide states, which made it possible for the first time to visualize hundreds of water molecules in the filament. His resulting elucidation of the ATP hydrolysis mechanism of F-actin represents a milestone in more than a century of physiological and biochemical muscle and cytoskeleton research. His work also provides the valuable basis for the development of actin-binding molecules that can be tailored for imaging and therapeutic applications. "
The Young Scientist Award from the Division of Biochemistry of the German Chemical Society was awarded on June 30, 2022 to Dr. Goran Kokic and Dr. Sabrina Pospich awarded as part of the Division conference “Biochemistry 2022” in Münster.
"The prize is awarded to Dr. Goran Kokic in recognition of his working group entitled “Structural basis of human transcription - DNA repair coupling" Nature 2021, 598, 368. This work is particularly notable for the fact that, for the first time, detailed structural insights into the molecular coupling of gene transcription with DNA repair in eukaryotic cells were obtained. In particular, biochemical methods were used for this purpose cryo-electronic studies of large transient multiprotein nucleic acid complexes were combined in such a way that a multi-stage molecular model for the transcription-repair coupling could be created. The work is also relevant for related research fields. For example, initial insights into the structural basis of the "Ubiquitination of a large multiprotein complex substrate was obtained, thereby laying the foundation for further investigation of the regulation of transcription-repair coupling."
"The prize is awarded to Dr. Sabrina Pospich in recognition of her working group entitled “Deciphering the Stefan Raunser effect of nucleotide hydrolysis and small molecule binding on actin and myosin". In her doctoral thesis, Ms. Pospich examined the proteins actin and myosin, two elementary components of the cytoskeleton and muscle, using cryo-electron microscopy. She has skillfully examined a large number of high-resolution three-dimensional structures of actin filaments with various ligands or Myosin determines and was thus able to gain significant insights into biologically and medically relevant issues. Their work contributes significantly to the molecular understanding of cardiomyopathies and other muscle diseases."
The 2020 Young Scientist Award from the Division of Biochemistry of the German Chemical Society was awarded to Dr. Mohammad Ghaem Maghami and Dr. Linlin Zhang awarded as part of the GDCh Science Forum Chemistry 2021.
The award goes to Dr. Mohammad Ghaem Maghami Awarded in recognition of his dissertation on the topic: "Development, characterization, and application of RNA catalysts for in situ labeling of target RNA molecules". In his work, Mr. Ghaem Maghami was able to develop new ribozymes for the site-specific labeling and modification of RNA by in vitro selection. In doing so, he provides powerful tools for the bioorthogonal derivatization of RNA, which will find application in chemical and biological studies of functional RNAs. The dissertation was written in the working group of Prof. Dr. Claudia Höbartner at the Julius Maximilian University of Würzburg.
The award goes to Mrs. Dr. Linlin Zhang awarded in appreciation of her publication entitled: "Crystal structure of SARS-CoV-2 main protease provides a basis for design of improved α-ketoamide inhibitors". With this work, Dr. Zhang laid the foundation for the structure-based design of anti-coronavirus drugs, the first of which are already in clinical testing. The publication was created in the working group of Prof. Dr. Rolf Hilgenfeld at the University of Lübeck.
The 2020 advancement Young Scientist Award of the Division of Biochemistry of the German Chemical Society was awarded to Maximilian Fottner and Dr. Marc-André Kasper was awarded during the Division conference ?Advances in Chemical Biology? on January 27th, 2021 in Frankfurt.
The prize is awarded to Mr. Maximilian Fottner in recognition of his publication with the title: ?Site-specific ubiquitylation and SUMOylation using genetic-code expansion and sortase?. In his doctoral thesis, Maximilian Fottner dealt with innovative and interdisciplinary strategies for the position-specific modification of proteins. In the award-winning work, Mr. Fottner developed a pioneering and promising method to specifically and selectively equip proteins - both in vitro and in living mammalian cells - with the small marker protein ubiquitin. This enabled him to develop an extremely powerful tool for analyzing the biological functions and consequences of these extremely important post-translational modifications.
The award is given to Dr. Marc-André Kasper awarded in recognition of his dissertation with the topic: "Chemoselective synthesis of functional drug conjugates". In his work, Dr. Kasper developed a new cysteine-selective reaction for the modification of antibodies, the so-called P5-labeling. Using this process, he produced a new antibody-drug conjugate that has better active and stable properties than an already approved drug.
The 2019 advancement Young Scientist Award of the Division of Biochemistry of the German Chemical Society was awarded to Dr. Karolin Wellner, Dr. Andreas Blees and Dr. Dennis Quentin was awarded at the GDCh Science Forum 2019 in Aachen on September 16, 2019.
Dr. In her doctoral thesis "For the functional analysis of the 3 'end of tRNAs and the importance of ribonucleases for quality control", Wellner examined the interplay of opposing enzyme activities that are involved in the processing or degradation of tRNAs. The opposite activities of CCA-adding enzyme and RNase T have previously been described as useless circulation. Ms. Wellner was able to show in very elegant experiments that these activities provide an important interaction in tRNA quality control. She is an excellent experimenter and interprets her data extremely carefully and free of any "overselling" - an important quality for a serious scientist.
The award is given to Dr. Quentin awarded in recognition of his dissertation on the topic: "Structural studies on the Type VI secretion system and human CLN3p". Both his work on the human CLN3 protein and the newly gained insights into the bacterial type 6 secretion system that Dr. Quentin delivered by means of cryo-electron microscopy make a decisive contribution to the molecular understanding of child dementia NCL and bacterial infections. The dissertation was carried out in the working group of Prof. Dr. Stefan Raunser at the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Physiology in Dortmund.
Dr. Andreas Blees in recognition of his publication with the topic: ?Structure of the human MHC-I peptide-loading complex?. The adaptive immune system is responsible for recognizing malignant or infected cells. Malfunction can lead to chronic inflammation and autoimmune diseases. Dr. Using innovative strategies, Blees succeeded in preparing the antigen transport and loading complex responsible for immune recognition and thus elucidating its structure. These trend-setting insights will find their way into textbooks as they decisively enrich our understanding of the cellular immune defense.
The 2018 Young Scientist Award from the Division of Biochemistry of the German Chemical Society was awarded to Dr. Doreen Könning and Dr. Schara Safarian at the international Conference "8th Peptide Engineering Meeting" (PEM 8) in Berlin on November 9, 2018.
Dr. In her doctorate ?Engineered shark antibody domains for biotechnological and biomedical applications?, Könning carried out pioneering research at the interface between biochemistry, pharmaceutical research and immunobiology. She developed processes for the production of tailor-made antibodies that open up new possibilities in drug production, medical diagnostics and cancer therapy. Her research approach, in particular, significantly simplifies the isolation of binding molecules for diagnostic applications and also creates the basis for new therapeutic approaches in personalized immunotherapy.
Dr. Safarian made in his promotion "Structure of a bd oxidase indicates similar mechanisms for membrane-integrated oxygen reductases" pioneering research at the interface between biochemistry and structural biology His work for crystallization and structure determination of microbial cytochrome bd oxidase provide new insights into the structure and function. This protein complex is of fundamental importance in bioenergetics and plays an important role in the pathogenicity of bacterial pathogens. With his work, Dr. Safarian created an essential knowledge base for the structure-based development of active ingredients for the treatment of bacterial infections.
The 2017 advancement Young Scientist Award of the Division of Biochemistry of the German Chemical Society was awarded to Dr. Josephin Marie Holstein and Dr. Jian Lei was awarded on the occasion of the GDCh Science Forum on September 13, 2017 in Berlin.
Dr. In her doctoral thesis ?The 5 'cap of eukaryotic mRNAs as a starting point for chemo-enzymatic markings?, Holstein did pioneering research at the interface between chemistry and biology . Ms. Holstein's new approach makes it possible to mark messenger RNA (mRNA) in a highly selective and sequence-independent manner in vitro and in cells or to specifically influence the function of mRNA. Ms. Holstein discovered a methyl transferase (Ecm1) with a pronounced substrate promiscuity and developed new S-adenosyl-L-methionine analogues, so that mRNA is now accessible for post-synthetic modification and intracellular bioorthogonal reactions.
With his publication on the topic: ?Crystal structure of Zika virus NS2B-NS3 protease in complex with a boronate inhibitor?, Jian Lei carried out pioneering research at the interface between biochemistry, structural biology and pharmaceutical chemistry. His work on the structure elucidation of viral proteases enables new insights into their structure and function. In particular, his research on the structure elucidation of the NS2B / NS3 protease from the Zika virus enables a detailed insight into the processing of the viral polyprotein and creates an essential knowledge base for the structure-based development of active ingredients for the treatment of viral infections.
The 2016 Young Scientist Award from the Division of Biochemistry of the German Chemical Society was awarded to Dr. Marie-Luise Winz in recognition of her doctorate on the subject of "Biological, chemical and computational investigations on RNA function and modification" at the "Shaping the Molecules of Life" Conference on July 7, 2016.
Marie-Luise Winz has done pioneering research at the interface between biology, chemistry and computer science . Her work on the isolation and sequence analysis of chemically modified ribonucleic acids from biological sources led to the discovery of coenzyme-capped regulatory RNAs in bacteria. In addition, Ms. Winz gained fundamental knowledge about the course of in vitro evolution experiments and developed new methods for labeling nucleic acids.
| Year | Surname | Institute | Excellent work |
| 2023 | Dr. Wout Oosterheert | Max Planck Institute for Molecular Physiology, Dortmund | publication |
| Dr. Jan Felber | Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich | dissertation | |
| 2022 | Dr. Goran Kokic | Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry, Göttingen | publication |
| Dr. Sabrina Pospich | Max Planck Institute for Molecular Physiology, Dortmund | dissertation | |
| 2021 | Dr. Linlin Zhang | University of Lübeck | publication |
| Dr. Mohammad Ghaem Maghami | Julius Maximilian University of Würzburg | dissertation | |
| 2020 | Maximilian Fottner | Technical University of Munich | publication |
| Dr. Marc-André Kasper | Leibniz Research Institute for Molecular Pharmacology, Berlin | dissertation | |
| 2019 | Dr. Andreas Blees | University of Frankfurt | publication |
| Dr. Dennis Quentin | MPI for Molecular Physiology, Dortmund | dissertation | |
| Dr. Karolin Wellner | University of Leipzig | dissertation | |
| 2018 | Dr. Doreen Könning | TU Darmstadt | dissertation |
| Dr. Shara Safarian | MPI Frankfurt | dissertation | |
| 2017 | Dr. Josephine Holstein | University of Münster | dissertation |
| Dr. Jian Lei | University of Lübeck | publication | |
| 2016 | Dr. Marie Luise Winz | University of Heidelberg | dissertation |
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last modified: 19.04.2024 15:50 H from C.Kniep
