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Max Planck Institute for Molecular Biomedicine February 12, 2008 Press information Hans Schöler awarded with Robert-Koch prize 2008 The Robert-Koch Foundation bestows the prize to the renowned stem cell researchers Hans Robert Schöler, Irving Weissman and Shinya Yamanaka Münster – The Robert-Koch Foundation bestows this year’s prize to Schöler, Weissman and Yamanaka for „their outstanding accomplishments in the field of stem cell biology“, as the Robert-Koch Foundation announced on February 12th. The prize is recognised as one of the highest-ranking scientific awards in Germany. Hans Schöler, managing director of the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Biomedicine in Münster, involves in stem cell research for more than 20 years. In 2003 he caused a sensation by an article in Science, in which he and his team for the first time could describe how in a culture dish cells could be generated from mouse embryonic stem cells that resemble egg cells. In the scientific field, this step was celebrated as a groundbreaking success. Embryonic stem cells are pluripotent, which means that they can make each of the more than 200 types of body cells, including germ cells. Yet until then, the latter was not possible. Hans Schöler’s work thus provided the last piece of evidence for the pluripotency of embryonic stem cells. Yet late in the 1980ies, Schöler offered stem cell research an important tool. At that time, he had discovered the gene Oc4 in embryonic stem cells, which meanwhile has become known as the key gene for the pluripotency. Recently, Shinya Yamanaka succeeded in taking back adult skin cells into a pluripotent state with help of the gene discovered by Schöler and three additional genes. “I am very honoured and greatly delighted”, says Hans Schöler. In the last 10 years only one scientist in Germany was awarded: in 2001 it was Axel Ullrich, who just like Hans Schöler is a member of the Max Planck Society. “I am especially glad about the fact that the Robert-Koch Foundation is setting an example for stem cell research with awarding this year’s prize.” All three scientists emphasise on every occasion how important a solid investigation of both embryonic and adult stem cells is, especially when one wishes to tap their full therapeutic potential. Contact: Dr. Jeanine Müller-Keuker, Public relations officer Max Planck Institute for Molecular Biomedicine, Münster Tel: +49 (0)251 70 365 - 325 E-Mail: [email protected]
