Leibniz Prize for 2 top Berlin researchers

Prof. Dr. Volker Haucke: FMP © Silke Oßwald; Prof. Dr. Ana Prombo: MDC © Pablo Castagnola

19.03.2025
Leibniz Prize for 2 top Berlin researchers

Brain City Berlin

Prof. Dr. Ana Pombo, genome biologist at the Max Delbrück Centre for Molecular Medicine (MDC) and Prof. Dr. Volker Haucke, biochemist and cell biologist at the Leibniz-Forschungsinstitut für Molekulare Pharmakologie (FMP), have been awarded the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize in Brain City Berlin. The most important German research funding prize and is endowed with 2.5 million euros each. This year marks the 40th time it has been awarded.

When the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize was ceremoniously awarded on March 19 at Café Moskau, two Berlin researchers were particularly pleased: Dr. Ana Pombo, Vice Director of the Berlin Institute for Medical Systems Biology at the Max Delbrück Centre and Professor of “Transcriptional Regulation and Genome Architecture” at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin and Professor Volker Haucke, Director of the Leibniz-Forschungsinstitut für Molekulare Pharmakologie (FMP) in Berlin and Professor of Molecular Pharmacology at Freie Universität Berlin ware among the ten scientists honoured with the most prestigious German research award.

Volker Haucke received the 2.5 million euro award for his pioneering research in the field of lipid signalling and synaptic signal transmission. In his work, he has gained new insights into the interaction of neuronal protein complexes, cell communication and mechanisms involved in the degradation of cellular components. His research results are used, for example, to develop new approaches for therapeutic applications in cancer research. Volker Haucke studied biochemistry at Freie Universität Berlin and received his doctorate from the Biocentre of the University of Basel. After a postdoctoral stay at Yale University, he headed a junior research group at the University of Göttingen. In 2003 he returned to Freie Universität Berlin as a professor of biochemistry. Since 2012, he has headed the Leibniz Research Institute for Molecular Pharmacology in Berlin. Volker Haucke has received numerous awards and grants, including an ERC Advanced Grant and the 2020 Feldberg Prize. He is a member of the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, the Academia Europaea and the European Molecular Biology Organisation (EMBO), among others.

Ana Pombo has developed new methods for mapping the three-dimensional organisation of DNA in individual cells. She was the first to discover important contacts within chromosomes, but also between different chromosomes. Her discoveries make it possible, among other things, to understand disease processes better. Born in Portugal, Ana Pombo initially studied biochemistry at the University of Lisbon. After completing her doctorate at Oxford University, she worked as a group leader at the MRC London Institute of Medical Sciences at Imperial College London. In 2013 she joined the Max Delbrück Centre in Berlin-Buch as laboratory director. At the same time, she took up a professorship at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. Ana Pombo is deputy director of the MDC-BIMSB and deputy programme spokesperson of the Max Delbrück Centre. In 2007 she received the Robert Feulgen Prize. She is also a member of the European Molecular Biology Organisation (EMBO) and the European Academy of Sciences.

The Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize has been awarded annually by the German Research Foundation (DFG) since 1986. Including this year’s prizewinners, 428 Leibniz Prizes have been awarded to researchers from natural sciences, humanities, life sciences and social sciences in 40 years. As the prize and the prize money can be shared in exceptional cases, the number of winners is higher than the number of prizes. A total of 455 nominees have received the award so far: 377 male and 78 female scientists. The prize winners can use the prize money for their research for up to seven years without any restrictions. (vdo)