2nd October 2020

Award Ceremony 2020

On October 1st, these three talented young researchers were awarded the “Life Sciences Bridge Award”: Dr. Dominik Niopek, Dr. Stefan Pfeffer and Dr. Philipp Vollmuth. 

The annual postdoctoral award is sponsored by the Aventis Foundation and endowed with a subsidy amount of € 100,000.
By granting the Life Science Bridge Award, the Aventis Foundation aims to provide individual support to talented researchers, to enable them to conduct their own independent research at the earliest possible stage and encourage them to pursue bold and unconventional ideas. Each year, the awards will be granted in cooperation with specific scientific institutions like universities and research institutes.
For 2020, the Foundation partnered with Goethe University Frankfurt, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Technical University Darmstadt and Heidelberg University. 

The awards will be given to academics with a doctorate or habilitation, junior professors and tenure track professors who aim for an academic career but do not yet hold full and permanent professorship.

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Dr. Stefan Pfeffer works at the Center for Molecular Biology at Heidelberg University to analyze the structure of macromolecular complexes by using cryo-EM imaging.
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Dr. Dominik Niopek works at the Technical University Darmstadt. His research focuses on optogenetic methods, CRISPR-Cas technology and the viral transfection of designer proteins.
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Medical Dr. Philipp Vollmuth works at Heidelberg University Hospital and specializes in the application of artificial intelligence in brain tumor analysis.
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The Aventis Foundation Postdoctoral Award enables them to be less dependent, to realize their research projects and qualify for full professorship. This is meant to provide them with a concrete professional perspective and to encourage them to keep pursuing a career in science.



Title photo left to right: Prof. Dr. Werner Müller-Esterl, Dr. Stefan Pfeffer, Dr. Dominik Niopek, Dr. Philipp Vollmuth,  Prof. Dr. Annette Beck-Sickinger
Photo left to right: Dr. Stefan Pfeffer, Dr. Dominik Niopek, Dr. Philipp Vollmuth


© Uwe Dettmar