Medicine

As in every year, one highlight for doctoral students in 2010 was the annual research day. Ms. Anna Kosubek was awarded the dissertation prize. Her excellent work on the eggs of the clawed frog has found that a delay in fertilisation results in aging of the egg, which in turn leads to an increased rate of malformation and mortality of the embryos. On a molecular biology level, Ms. Kosubek has demonstrated the possible cause of this loss of quality by aging eggs, a finding that is very important in light of the increased use of assisted reproduction.
Professor Astrid Westendorf, an assistant professor leading the “Mucosal Immunity” group within the Institute of Medical Microbiology, 
received the postgraduate scholarship from the Novartis Foundation for Therapeutic Research. The prize is endowed with 8,000 euros.
Professor Dirk Schadendorf, Director of the Department of Dermatology, was awarded the clinical part of the acclaimed Deutscher Krebspreis 2010 (German Cancer Prize) by the Deutsche Krebsgesellschaft (German Cancer 
Society) in recognition of his work on the prognosis and therapeutic resistance of malignant melanoma. For his services to science, Professor Herbert Rübben, Director of the Department of Urology, was honoured with the Maximilian Nitze Medal, the ultimate distinction conferred by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Urologie (German Society of Urology). Every year, the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Hals-Nasen-Ohren-Heilkunde (German Society of Otorhinolaryngology) awards the Anton von Tröltsch Prize for outstanding scientific accomplishment. In 2010, the prize went to Professor Thomas Hoffmann from the Department of Otorhinolaryngology. At the 15th World Congress on Heart Disease in Vancouver, Professor Gerd Heusch, Director of the Institute of Pathophysiology, received the Hans-Peter Krayenbühl Award for distinguished research in the field of cardiac contraction from the International Academy of Cardiology. At an international congress in New York, the Director of the Department of Paediatrics II, Professor Peter Friedrich Hoyer, was awarded the “Golden Kidney” by the European Society for Paediatric Nephrology for his outstanding achievements in paediatric nephrology and the development of this discipline in Europe. The Deutsche Gesellschaft für Neurologie (German Society for Neurology) honoured the Director of the Department of Neurology, Professor Hans-Christoph Diener, with the Max Nonne Medallion for his outstanding accomplishments in the field. This medallion is considered the most important national distinction in the field and is only awarded at irregular intervals.