Stem cell researchers study the development from the fertilized egg cell to the embryo from the very first moment and investigate the molecular biological processes. Many processes in the emergence of a diverse and differentiated organism from a fertilized egg are not yet understood. The expectations for deeper knowledge are not only developmental insights, but an understanding of the origin of diseases. Hereditary diseases or mutations are triggers of serious diseases that could be countered with the help of future cell replacement therapies. With the GSCN Awards 2021, the German Stem Cell Network honors outstanding stem cell researchers.
- The "GSCN 2021 Young Investigator Award" goes to Elvira Mass from the Life and Medical Sciences Institute (LIMES) at the University of Bonn.
- The "GSCN 2021 Hilde Mangold Award" goes to Katja Schenke-Layland from the Natural and Medical Sciences Institute at the University of Tübingen.
- The "GSCN 2021 Publication of the Year Award" goes to Katharina Scheibner and Heiko Lickert together with Silvia Schirge and Ingo Butscherer from the Institute of Diabetes and Regeneration Research at Helmholtz Zentrum München.
Prof. Dr. Elvira Mass receives the "GSCN 2021 Young Investigator Award" for her outstanding research in the field of the developmental significance of macrophages as cells of the innate immune system. Mass showed that macrophages, so-called big eaters, are long-lived and are an integral part of organogenesis. When mutated, they can initiate maldevelopments, e.g., in the brain, and play a decisive role in later diseases. Thus, Mass is changing the understanding of macrophages in their role in embryonic organ development and their influence on disease ontogeny and progression. Elvira Mass (35) studied biology at the University of Bonn and earned her doctorate at the Life and Medical Sciences Institute (LIMES). In 2014, she joined Frederic Geissmann's lab at King's College in London and followed him a few months later to Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York. From there, she returned to the LIMES Institute at the University of Bonn in 2017 as a group leader. In 2019, she became a professor for "Integrated Immunology" at the University of Erlangen-Nürnberg. In 2020, she moved to a professorship at the LIMES Institute. Mass has received several awards, including the Heinz Maier Leibnitz Prize in 2020 and the Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter Young Investigator Award in 2021.
Kontakt:
Prof. Dr. Elvira Mass
LIMES-Institut der Universität Bonn
Tel.: 02 28 / 73 6 28 48
E-Mail: elvira.mass@uni-bonn.de