04 / 2019
The Paul-Ehrlich-Institut (PEI) and the Association for the Promotion of the Langen Science Award (Verein zur Förderung des Langener Wissenschaftspreises) have presented young scientists with the Langen Junior Science Award (Langener Nachwuchswissenschaftspreis) for the eighth time. The first prize is shared by Dr Anett Pfeiffer (29) and Dr Frederic Thalheimer (35) for creating anti-tumoural immune cells in vivo. The second prize was received by Dr Kerstin Schott (31) for performing research on the control of the cell’s own inhibitory substance of HIV, and the third prize was given to Dr Cindy Nürnberger (33) and Dr Bianca Bodmer (28) for producing an experimental Zika vaccine. The awards were given to honour excellent research work which led to first author publication in recognised specialist journals.
The award winners received their certificates and congratulations on Monday 11 February 2019 from the mayor of Langen, Frieder Gebhardt, the chairman of the Association for the Promotion of the Langen Science Award, Professor Johannes Löwer, and the president of the Paul-Ehrlich-Institut, Professor Cichutek. When Mr Gebhardt presented the award winners with the certificates, he said: "We are pleased to further young talented scientists by granting them the junior science award. We are proud of Langen for presenting itself as a location for research and teaching, and I thank the savings bank of Langen-Seligenstadt (Sparkasse Langen-Seligenstadt) for funding this important award."
The high-rank international research at the PEI is in direct connection with the duties of the Paul-Ehrlich-Institut as the Federal Institute for Vaccines and Biomedicines. Professor Cichutek, the president of the institute further explained this connection: "The complexity of the medicinal products for which we are responsible requires state-of-the-art scientific knowledge. This knowledge is guaranteed by us through our own basic and regulatory research. The work done by this year’s award winners provides excellent ideas for the development and testing of biomedicines"
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From left to right: Professor Klaus Cichutek, Dr Kerstin Schott, Dr Frederic Thalheimer, Dr Cindy Nürnberger, Frieder Gebhardt, Professor Johannes Löwer.
Source: PEI
The first price, which has a value of 1000 Euro is shared by Dr Anett Pfeiffer and Dr Frederic Thalheimer as joint first authors of the article "In vivo generation of human CD19-CAR T cells results in B-cell depletion and signs of cytokine release syndrome", which was published in EMBO Molecular Medicine. In a project funded by the German Cancer Help (Deutsche Krebshilfe), the young scientists succeeded in producing CAR-T cells directly in mice. CAR-T cells are immune cells (T cells) of the body equipped with an artificial (chimeric) antigen receptor (CAR). Since August 2018, two CAR-T cell therapeuticals have been granted the marketing authorisation for the treatment of particular leukaemia forms in humans, which up to now could hardly be treated. In this treatment, the patients‘ own T-immune cells are removed from their bodies in an extremely complex procedure, which must be carried out in specialised care centres. The cells are then modified outside the body, replicated, and finally infused back into the patients’ bodies. The method presented by Pfeiffer, Thalheimer, and colleagues in which CAR-T-cells are produced directly in the body could simplify treatments significantly in future, thus making them more efficient.
The second prize at a value of 600 Euro was granted to Dr Kerstin Schott. Her article, which was published in Nature Communication is entitled: "Dephosphorylation of the HIV-1 restriction factor SAMHD1 is mediated by PP2A-B55α holoenzymes during mitotic exit". The work by Schott and colleagues concerned restriction factor SAMHD1. Restriction factors inhibit virus infections and virus replication in body cells. But SAMHD1 can achieve even more: It is also involved in the development of autoimmune diseases and cancer. The award winner established that SAMHD1 activity in the cell is controlled via the detachment of phosphate groups.
The award winners of the third prize of 400 Euro are Dr Cindy Nürnberger and Dr Bianca Bodmer. Jointly with colleagues of the PEI and the Heinrich-Pette Institute, the researchers developed an experimental vector vaccine against Zika virus infections. This vector is derived from the measles vaccine virus. The results of their research were published in an article Journal of Virology entitled "A measles virus-based vaccine candidate mediates protection against Zika virus in an 1 allogenic mouse pregnancy model." Zika virus infections occur in more than 80 countries and spread in Central and South America between 2015 and 2017. Zika virus infections are feared in pregnant women, because they lead to malformations of the brain in the foetus. With the vaccine, researchers were able to protect pregnant mice and their offspring from being infected with Zika virus and from developing the disease.
Contact:
Paul-Ehrlich-Institut
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Email: presse@pei.de
Updated: 11.02.2019
