Awards and Grants

Prof. Johannes Backs (Heidelberg University Hospital), Prof. Alessandra Moretti (Technical University of Munich) and Prof. Oliver J. Müller (Schleswig-Holstein University Hospital) are receiving funding from the DZG Innovation Fund, which was awarded for the first time. Together with researchers from four other DZGs, they want to advance gene and cell therapy.

Prof. Michael Potente (Berlin Institute of Health at Charité, BIH) was awarded the Judah Folkman Award in Vascular Biology by the North American Vascular Biology Organzization (NAVBO). This award recognizes outstanding contributions from vascular biologists who are at mid-career.

Dr Hristian Hinkov (German Heart Centre of the Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin) was awarded the Dr. Rusche project grant of the German Foundation of Heart Research. He will receive 58,800 euros to further investigate how the microbiome changes after heart surgery with the use of a heart-lung machine.

Prof. Sofia-Iris Bibli (University Hospital Frankfurt) has been awarded the Hector Research Career Development Award. The award is aimed at particularly talented young scientists from the natural and engineering sciences, medicine or psychology who have already sharpened their scientific profile and taken the first career step

Prof. Volkmar Falk (German Heart Center Berlin), is the new President of the German Society for Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery. Since 2014, he has been Medical Director of the German Heart Institute Berlin (DHZB), which was transferred to the German Heart Institute of the Charité (DHZC) in 2023.

Dr Kami Alexander Pekayvaz (Hospital of the Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich) receives a grant from the Else Kröner Fresenius Foundation for first and second applications. In this way, the foundation supports researchers who are still in the early stages of obtaining funding.

Dr Linda Grefen (Hospital of the Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich), receives the Cardiac Medicine Award of the German Society for Thoracic, Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery for her doctoral thesis 'In vitro evaluation of processing methods and optimization of endothelialization of pericardial patches for cardiac surgery application'.

Professor Lars Maegdefessel (University Hospital rechts der Isar) receives an ERC Consolidator Grant to target long non-coding RNAs for novel treatment strategies in vascular diseases. The funding goes to excellent scientists to consolidate an independent research team.

Professor Nina Henriette Uhlenhaut (Technical University of Munich) receives an ERC Consolidator Grant to investigate the role of the glucocorticoid receptor in aging and circadian endocrinology. The funding goes to excellent scientists to consolidate an independent research team.

Dr. Jana Grune (German Heart Center Berlin) and Dr. Pieterjan Dierickx (Max Planck Institute for Heart and Lung Research) each start a new junior research group. The DZHK will fund the research groups for the next six years.