Robert Pfleger Foundation awards research prize

Robert Pfleger-Stiftung Research Award 2012

Professors Florian Holsboer and Michael Hecker were awarded the prestigious Robert Pfleger Prize

06/30/2012

This year, the Robert Pfleger Foundation's coveted research award goes to psychiatrist and chemist Professor Florian Holsboer from the Max Planck Institute for Psychiatry and to microbiologist and molecular biologist Professor Michael Hecker from the University of Greifswald. Both are honored for their research in the field of genome and depression research with a highly endowed research prize.

The psychiatrist Florian Holsboer has been researching the causes of mental illness for a long time using methods of genetics and biochemistry. The focus for the researcher is the question of how depression and phobias and sleep disorders develop and how they can be treated most effectively. Holsboer is considered one of the masterminds of individual medicine for the individual patient „custom“ is. That's why he becomes so of many „Captain Future“ or „Mr Change“ called. By no means is the scientist dubbed by the media, but by high-ranking specialist colleagues who are even successful in depression research. In his laudatory speech, Roland Gugler emphasized that Florian Holsboer is so called by his fellow scientists, „because he always follows new paths and does not let himself be held back by skeptics. "In addition to his professorship, the researcher is also a doctor in three. In addition to the management of the Max Planck Institute, he teaches at the Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich.

More targeted treatment of depression
"This year we are honoring two luminaries of the medical research landscape," said the chairman of the foundation board, Rainer Drewello. Professor Holsboer's research has taken a completely new direction, providing new insights into the development and treatment of depression. Now it is possible to treat the widespread disease depression more effective and targeted, says Drewello. Holsboer became known to a broader mainstream audience, among others, when former professional footballer Sebastian Deisler publicly acknowledged his depression in 2003 and Holsboer treated him for medical treatment.

Together with the microbiologist Michael Hecker, the Robert Pfleger Award, endowed with 50,000 euros, was handed to him in the Bamberger Hegelsaal after about 150 listeners from around the world, including politicians and researchers. The research award is one of the most important medical prizes in Germany and has been awarded every two years since the 1980s for outstanding results.

New therapeutic strategies for bacterial infections
Another great honor was given to Professor Michael Hecker from Greifswald. He and his research team had succeeded, „to break down the protein structure of diseased microorganisms and thus to disclose their function in the course of disease. "The results help to develop new therapeutic strategies for bacterial infectious diseases and to design highly effective antibiotic agents „a milestone in the fight against dangerous germ infections“, as it was called in the ceremonial address. (Sb)