Matthias Mann receives Körber Prize - Proteomic research at the MPI of Biochemistry awarded

June 13, 2012

Every second, thousands of proteins fulfil essential tasks as molecular building blocks or molecular machines in the cells of our bodies. Matthias Mann, director at the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry (MPIB) in Martinsried, is to receive the Körber European Science Prize 2012 for his ground-breaking work on the proteome, the entirety of all proteins of a living organism. This research award comes with prize money of 750,000 Euros and will be presented on September 7, 2012, in Hamburg, Germany.


The entirety of all proteins of a cell or an organism is called the proteome and its investigation proteomics. The physicist and mathematician Matthias Mann has had a decisive influence on large-scale proteomics and therefore on our ability to detect the proteins associated with biological systems. His greatest achievement is considered to be the development of mass spectrometric procedures, which originated in the field of physics, in the field of molecular biology. Beyond the technical advancement of these methods, Mann and his colleagues have developed bioinformatics tools that can analyse and interpret the huge amounts of data resulting from mass spectrometric measurements. His method can also be applied to medical purposes - for example to compare the proteome of healthy cells with tumour cells. Matthias Mann has already won many important prizes for his research: in 2012 alone, he has been awarded the Leibniz Prize, the Schering Prize and the Louis-Jeantet Prize.

About the Award
The Körber Foundation honors scientists working on particularly innovative research projects. Committees consisting of excellent, European scientists choose probable candidates and submit them to the Board of Trustees for the final decision. Together with 750,000 Euros, the award is presented to the prize winner in the Great Festival Room of the Town Hall in Hamburg. In 2006, another MPIB director, F.-Ulrich Hartl, received the award.

Contact:

Prof. Dr. Matthias Mann
Proteomics and Signal Transduction
Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry
Am Klopferspitz 18
82152 Martinsried
E-Mail: mmann[a]biochem.mpg.de

Anja Konschak
Public Relations
Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry
Am Klopferspitz 18
82152 Martinsried
Phone: +49 89 8578-2824
E-Mail: konschak[a]biochem.mpg.de
www.biochem.mpg.de

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