This year's award ceremony of the German Society for Cell Biology (DGZ) took place on November 18th. The institution awards various prizes for outstanding achievements in the field of cell biology and accordingly there are various research categories in which awards are given.
What you might not know: BINDER has been sponsoring the so-called Innovation Prize for over 20 years. The prize is endowed with €4,000 and is aimed at young scientists who have already established and developed their own research profile. Only members of the DGZ can be considered as candidates and they can either apply directly or be nominated.
Due to Corona, the award ceremony was held digitally this year and Dr. Thilo Hanke represented BINDER. He reported on an "exciting presentation" by the award winner Dr. Leo Kurian, which represents "definitely not a standard". In a 45-minute talk, Kurian presented his research results, which he has been conducting since 2014, primarily in Cologne, at various institutes for neurophysiology, molecular medicine and regenerative RNA biology.
In general, it is about "absolute basic work in the field of epigenetics and a great thing overall," as Thilo Hanke reported. In concrete terms, this means that it is about how cardiovascular diseases develop - for example how damage to the heart vessels or heart attacks occur. The research method, which revolves around stem cell-based differentiation models, is particularly innovative.
For this reason, it is no coincidence that BINDER donates the innovation prize. Research of this kind coincides with our values and goals as an innovation leader: to make a significant contribution to improving human health.
