GRC focuses on the promotion of individual excellence
03.05.2016
In the nine years since its foundation, the Gutenberg Research College (GRC) has firmly established itself as an institution that promotes top-level research and effectively brings together outstanding research in various fields. The GRC annually welcomes new fellows to the organization and presents the Gutenberg Research Award. This year, the GRC appointed Professor Klaus Müllen as a new fellow and honored Dr. Vishva Dixit with its Gutenberg Research Award 2016.
"In addition to facilitating research by large collaborative projects, we at the GRC also recognize the achievements of individual researchers and use our fellowships to support the efforts of exceptional scientists," said Professor Matthias Neubert, Director of the GRC and Theoretical High Energy Physics group at Mainz University. "Today we have the pleasure of welcoming a very eminent scientist as a new member of our community of fellows as well as presenting the Gutenberg Research Award to a distinguished international researcher." The GRC has been giving the award since 2012, with corresponding nominations coming from all faculties at the university. The prize is worth EUR 10,000.
Appointed as the new GRC Fellow was Professor Klaus Müllen, one of the world's most respected scientists in the field of experimental chemistry. Müllen has been Director at the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research since 1989 and has now begun a three-year period of collaboration at Mainz University in the sector of synthetic chemistry. At JGU, he will be cooperating closely with various work groups at the university. Müllen is known for his numerous research achievements at the interface between experimental synthetic chemistry, polymer chemistry, material sciences, and physics.
The Gutenberg Research Award 2016 goes to biomedical specialist Dr. Vishva Dixit. He received the award for his pioneering research in apoptosis, a form of cellular self-destruction that is also known as programmed cell death. Dixit and his team laid the foundations for decoding the mechanisms underlying programmed cell death at the beginning of the 1990s. This trailblazing research meant that it has become possible to develop new approaches to combating cancer and neurodegenerative illnesses such as Alzheimer's.
Vishva Dixit was also able to demonstrate the existence of a multiprotein complex called inflammasome, which enables the body's own immune system to battle infection. His most recent cutting-edge discoveries are related to the role played by the ubiquitination and deubiquitination of proteins in the development of cancer.