Heinz Maier-Leibnitz Award for CRC1181 principle investigator
Aline Bozec receives the most important research prize for young scientists
Junior Professor Dr. Aline Bozec is awarded the most important prize for young scientists in Germany by the German Research Foundation (DFG). The biochemist, who has been conducting research at the Department of Internal Medicine 3 – Rheumatology and Immunology (Director: Prof. Dr. med. univ. Georg Schett) of the Friedrich Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg (FAU) since 2011, will receive the Heinz Maier-Leibnitz Prize in Bonn on 18 May 2016, which is endowed with 20,000 euros.
During her research, Aline Bozec recognized early on that bones have a number of integrating interfaces to other tissue and organ systems: In her work in France, Austria, Spain and Germany she has described central transcription factors and signalling pathways that are relevant for differentiation and activity of cells in osteoclasts – bone-eating cells, osteoblasts – bone-building cells – and fat cells as switching points. This enabled Bozec to shed light on fundamental phenomena relating to the regulation of bone formation and destruction, the modulation of regenerative mechanisms in the bone marrow stem cell niches and their significance in health and disease.
The biochemist, who was born in 1977 in France, has been head of the Emmy Noether Junior Research Group and junior professor at the FAU since 2011. She was instrumental in the establishment of the Collaborative Research Centre 1181 “Switching Points for the Dissolution of Inflammation” and leads a subproject in the DFG priority programme “Osteoimmunology”. After studying biochemistry in Orleans and receiving a doctorate from the French Ministry of Education and Research at the University of Lyon, Bozec worked at the Vienna Institute of Molecular Biology and at the Spanish Cancer Research Centre (CNIO) on the influence of inflammations and tumours on the skeletal system. In 2011, the FAU appointed her to a specially established junior professorship in osteoimmunology.
“In recent years, Ms. Bozec has not only managed to establish an international working group at the FAU, which conducts high-quality research, obtains considerable amounts of third-party funds and publishes them in high-ranking journals, but has also made a very active contribution to teaching and, in particular, doctoral training,”said Prof. Dr. Georg Schett, Director of the Medical Clinic 3, praising the prize-winner. “In addition to her special achievements in research, her extraordinary commitment and her talent for dealing with people, Ms. Bozec is also impressive at the same time in her ability to combine a successful career with high family standards as a multiple mother; she is a wonderful role model for other young women and exemplifies what we at the FAU want to promote,”emphasizes Prof. Dr. Nadine Gatzert, Vice President of FAU Research.
The Heinz Maier-Leibnitz Prize has been awarded annually to outstanding young researchers since 1977 as recognition and at the same time as an incentive to continue their scientific careers in a straightforward manner. Named after the nuclear physicist and former DFG President, the award is not only considered to be the most important of its kind for young researchers in Germany. In a survey conducted by the journal “bild der wissenschaft”, the major research organisations voted the Heinz Maier-Leibnitz Prize to be the third most important science prize in Germany. A total of 134 researchers from all disciplines were nominated for this year’s prize round. The selection committee appointed by the DFG and the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) selected five young researchers for the Heinz Maier-Leibnitz Prizes 2016.2016 The prize money of 20,000 euros will be provided by the BMBF.
Further Informationen about Aline Bozec:
http://www.medizin3.uk-erlangen.de/
Proce information:
www.dfg.de/maier-leibnitz-preis
Further Information:
Prof. Dr. Aline Bozec
Phone: 09131 85 29002
E-Mail: aline.bozec
uk-erlangen.de