Eppendorf

Eppendorf Award for Young European Investigators

The Eppendorf Award for Young European Investigators was first established in 1995. It acknowledges outstanding contributions to biomedical research in Europe based on methods of molecular biology, including novel analytical concepts.

The Award is presented in partnership with Nature.

The Award winner receives:

  • prize money of 20,000 Euro (for personal use)
  • an invitation to the prize ceremony at the EMBL Advanced Training Centre in Heidelberg, Germany
  • an invitation to visit Eppendorf SE in Hamburg, Germany
  • coverage of his/her work by Nature in print and online (including a podcast)

Read more about the Award and apply online.

For questions regarding the Award, please email: award@eppendorf.de

Award Winners

2023 Winner

The independent Eppendorf Award Jury chaired by Prof. Reinhard Jahn selected Dr. Maurice Michel, Assistant Professor at the Science for Life Laboratory, Karolinksa Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden as this year’s winner of the Eppendorf Award for Young European Investigators.

Maurcie Michel, born 1986, receives the € 20.000,-- award for his research on artificial functions of DNA repair enzymes for the treatment of disease. Dr. Michel showed that binding of a small molecule to the active site of a DNA repair enzyme not only increases its activity but also prompts it to carry out a reaction not found in the free protein, leading to enhanced DNA repair after oxidative damage. Maurice talks about his work in this Award feature. You can also hear the interview with him in our podcast.

For more information on the Eppendorf Award for Young European Investigators, visit the Eppendorf Award website.

 

2022 Winner

The independent Eppendorf Award Jury chaired by Prof. Reinhard Jahn selected Dr. Thi Hoang Duong Nguyen, Group Leader, at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge as this year’s winner of the Eppendorf Award for Young European Investigators.

Thi Hoang Duong (Kelly) Nguyen, born 1987, receives the € 20,000 prize for her pioneering work on the structure and function of two RNA-protein complexes essential for all higher organisms: spliceosome and telomerase. Kelly talks about her work in this Award feature. You can also hear the interview with her in our podcast.

For more information on the Eppendorf Award for Young European Investigators, visit the Eppendorf Award website.

2021 Winner

The independent Eppendorf Award Jury chaired by Prof. Reinhard Jahn selected Dr. Tanmay Bharat, Principal Investigator, Sir William Dunn School of Pathology at the University of Oxford as this year’s winner of the Eppendorf Award for Young European Investigators.

Tanmay Bharat, born 1985, receives the € 20,000 prize for his pioneering work on the structure and function of extracellular surface layers that surround and protect prokaryotic cells. Tanmay talks about his work in this Award feature. You can also hear the interview with Tanmay in our podcast.

For more information on the Eppendorf Award for Young European Investigators, visit the Eppendorf Award website.

 

2020 Winner

In 2020, Eppendorf SE, the Hamburg life science company, is presenting its highly prestigious research prize for the 25th time. The independent Eppendorf Award Jury chaired by Prof. Reinhard Jahn selected Prof. Dr. Randall J. Platt, Assistant Professor of Biological Engineering, ETH Zurich, Switzerland, as the 2020 winner of the Eppendorf Award for Young European Investigators.

Randall Platt, born 1987, receives the € 20,000 prize for his pioneering work developing a method to record timelines of gene expression events using a CRISPR-Cas system. Randall talks about his work in this Award feature. You can also hear the interview with Randall in our podcast.

Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, there will be a live stream of the virtual double award ceremony for Randall Platt, the winner of 2020 and this year’s winner on June 24, 2021.

For more information on the Eppendorf Award for Young European Investigators, visit the Eppendorf Award website.

 

2019 Winner

The independent Eppendorf Award Jury chaired by Prof. Reinhard Jahn selected Dr. Georg Winter, Principal Investigator at the CeMM Research Center for Molecular Medicine of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (Vienna, Austria) as the 2019 winner of the Eppendorf Award for Young European Investigators.

Georg Winter, born 1985, receives the € 20,000 prize for his pioneering work developing a method for targeting specific proteins for degradation. Georg talks about his work in this Award feature. You can also hear the interview with Georg in our podcast and watch the full ceremony.

The Award ceremony took place at the EMBL Advanced Training Centre in Heidelberg, Germany, on June 27, 2019.

For more information on the Eppendorf Award for Young European Investigators, visit the Eppendorf Award website

 

2018 Winner
The independent Eppendorf Award Jury chaired by Prof. Reinhard Jahn selected Dr. Andrea Ablasser, Assistant Professor at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Lausanne, Switzerland, as the 2018 winner of the Eppendorf Award for Young European Investigators.

Andrea Ablasser, born 1983, receives the € 20,000 prize for her contributions to a key step in the innate immune response, which triggers a frontline defense when cells are attacked by microorganisms. Andrea talks about her work in this Award Feature. You can also hear an interview with Andrea in our podcast.

The Award ceremony took place at the EMBL Advanced Training Centre in Heidelberg, Germany, on June 21, 2018.

For more information on the Eppendorf Award for Young European Investigators, visit the Eppendorf Award website


2017 Winner
The independent Eppendorf Award Jury chaired by Prof. Reinhard Jahn selected Dr. Tom Baden, Senior Lecturer in Neuroscience at the University of Sussex, Brighton, United Kingdom, as the 2017 winner of the Eppendorf Award for Young European Investigators. Tom Baden, born 1982, receives the € 20,000 prize for his ground-breaking work on signal processing in the retina. Tom talks about his work in this Award Feature.

The Award ceremony took place at the EMBL Advanced Training Centre in Heidelberg, Germany, on June 22, 2017.

To hear an interview with Tom, listen to our podcast.

For more information on the Eppendorf Award for Young European Investigators, visit the Eppendorf Award website

2016 Winner
The independent Eppendorf Award Jury chaired by Prof. Reinhard Jahn selected Prof. Adrian Liston, Group leader at VIB Translational Immunology Lab, University of Leuven, Belgium, as the 2016 winner of the Eppendorf Award for Young European Investigators. Adrian Liston, born 1980, receives the €20,000 prize for his seminal work in elucidating key mechanisms by which the immune system avoids attacking its own organism while remaining effective against pathogens. Adrian talks about his work in this Award Feature.

The official prize ceremony took place at the EMBL Advanced Training Centre in Heidelberg, Germany, on June 2nd 2016.

To hear an interview with Adrian, listen here or watch the video from the award ceremony.

2015 Winner
In 2015 Eppendorf SE is presenting the Eppendorf Award for Young European Investigators for the 20th time. The independent Eppendorf Award Jury chaired by Prof. Reinhard Jahn selected Dr. Thomas Wollert (Research Group Leader Molecular Membrane and Organelle Biology at the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry in Martinsried, Germany) as the 2015 winner of the Eppendorf Award for Young European Investigators. Thomas Wollert, born 1979, receives the €20,000 prize for his groundbreaking work in reconstituting complex intracellular membrane events in the test tube using artificial membranes and purified components. Thomas talks about his work in this Award Feature.

The official prize ceremony took place at the EMBL Advanced Training Centre in Heidelberg, Germany, on June 25, 2015.

To hear an interview with prize winner Thomas, listen here or watch the video from the award ceremony.

2014 Winner
The independent Eppendorf Award Jury chaired by Prof. Reinhard Jahn selected Madeline Lancaster, Ph.D., of the Institute of Molecular Biotechnology of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna, Austria, as the 2014 winner of the Eppendorf Award for Young European Investigators. Madeline Lancaster, born 1982, receives the € 15,000 research prize for her work showing that complex neuronal tissues resembling early states of fetal human brain can be created in vitro from pluripotent stem cells. Madeline talks about her work in this Award Feature.

To hear an interview with prize winner Madeline, listen here or watch the video from the award ceremony.

2013 Winner
The independent Eppendorf Award Jury chaired by Prof. Reinhard Jahn selected Ben Lehner, Ph.D., of the Centre de Regulació Genòmica, Barcelona, Spain, as the 2013 winner of the Eppendorf Award for Young European Investigators. Ben, born 1978, receives the € 15,000 research prize for his discoveries concerning the fundamental question why mutations in the genome result in variable phenotypes. Ben talks about his work in this Award Feature.

To hear an interview with prize winner Ben, listen here or watch the video from the award ceremony.

2012 Winner
The 2012 prize was awarded to Elizabeth Murchison, Ph.D. (Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Cambridge, United Kingdom) for her discoveries concerning a deadly cancer that is spreading among the endemic population of Tasmanian devils in Tasmania and threatening the survival of the species. Elizabeth talks about her work in this Award Feature.

To hear an interview with prize winner Elizabeth, listen here or watch the video from the award ceremony in Heidelberg.

2011 Winner
The 2011 Eppendorf Young European Investigator Award goes to Suzan Rooijakkers for her contribution to discovering how Staphylococcus aureus evades immune attack. Suzan talks about her work on this Award Feature.

To hear an interview with prize winner Suzan, listen here.

Listen here to the podcast from the award ceremony in Heidelberg.

2009 Winner
In 2009 the prize was awarded to Óscar Fernández-Capetillo, head of the Genomic Instability Group at the Spanish National Cancer Center. Read the highlights of his interview with Nature in this Award Feature.

Listen here to learn about the impact the Award had on his career.

2008 Winner
The 2008 prize was awarded to Dr. Simon Boulton of the London Research Institute. Read the highlights of his interview with Nature in this Award Feature.

Listen here to learn about the impact the Award had on his career.

2007 Winner
Dr Mónica Bettencourt-Dias is the 2007 winner of the Eppendorf Award for Young European Investigators. Monica gives a personal account of her research and the Eppendorf Award in an Award Feature for Nature.


2006 Winner
Dr Luca Scorrano won the award in 2006. Read more about his research on the Eppendorf Award for Young European Investigators website.