Professor Kathrin Mädler explores new ways of treating the common complaint of diabetes – with success. The professor from the Faculty of Biology at the University of Bremen has been awarded the 2012 Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter prize for young researchers worth a total of 60,000 euros. The Board of Trustees of the Paul-Ehrlich Foundation said the award is in recognition of her ground breaking research which has produced “innovative and new approaches to help understand processes of apoptosis in the occurrence of type 2 diabetes”. The Bremen researcher investigates the factors which lead to decrease of insulin producing beta cells in the pancreas – the main cause of type 2 diabetes.

The Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter Prize is one of the most coveted international awards for medicine in Germany. The prize giving ceremony will be held in the Frankfurt Paulskirche on 14th March 2012, Paul Ehrlich’s birthday (1854-1915).

The award winner

Prof. Dr. Kathrin Mädler, born 9.11.1971, studied pharmacy at the University of Vienna. From 2000 to 2003 she worked at the University Clinic in Zürich on her PhD project under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Marc Y. Donath. At the same time she was a project leader in the Department of Endocrinology and Diabetes. Following this, she was appointed Assistant Professor at the Larry Hillblom Islet Research Center of the University of California in Los Angeles. Since 2008 she has been the lead scientist of the Laboratory for Molecular Diabetology at the Center for Biomolecular Interactions at the University of Bremen. Her research group is investigating new mechanisms which could improve the function and chances of survival of insulin producing beta cells. They also want to find out how to recognize the disease at an earlier stage. In 2008 Kathrin Mädler was awarded an Emmy Noether stipend by the German Research Foundation to enable her to set up her own independent research group. In 2010 she received funding from the European Research Council. Earlier this year she had already received the Ferdinand Betram Prize in recognition of her work. Kathrin Mädler has co-authored more than 50 scientific publications.

Contact

Universität Bremen
Fachbereich Biologie/Chemie
Kathrin Mädler
Center for Biomolecular interactions
Phone: +49 421 218-63290
e-mail: kmaedlerprotect me ?!uni-bremenprotect me ?!.de