Published: 19-06-2017 16:26 | Updated: 17-01-2022 13:24

Volker Lauschke awarded the 2017 Malin and Lennart Philipson prize

In memory of Professor Lennart Philipson, the board of the Malin and Lennart Philipson Foundation awards a prize and grant for molecular biomedical research with the aim to help young, promising scientists to establish an independent research group after their postdoc training. This year’s awardee is KI researcher Dr Volker M. Lauschke.

The grant sum is SEK 1 million per year for two years, including a personal prize during the first year of SEK 50,000. Apart from the researcher’s scientific merits, the award also recognises the ability as a leader to establish a strong research group. The prize is awarded in alternate years at Karolinska Institutet and Uppsala University respectively.

Porträtt av Volker Lauschke.Volker M. Lauschke, Assistant Professor at the Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, is awarded the the prize 2017 for his work on the development and characterization of physiological hepatic model systems with the goal to study the molecular basis underlying inter-individual differences in drug response.

"Volker M. Lauschke has made groundbreaking scientific discoveries and demonstrated independent and outstanding qualities in his line of research," says Professor Li Felländer-Tsai, scientific advisor to the Malin and Lennart Philipson Board. "He indeed deserves this award."

“I am deeply grateful to have been granted this award”, comments Dr Lauschke. “During my pre-doctoral studies, I had the pleasure to experience the inclusive, approachable and open-minded spirit that Lennart Philipson managed to evoke at the EMBL in Heidelberg, and which coined so many scientists throughout Europe and worldwide, including myself. I feel honored to receive a prize in Lennart Philipson’s name and will strive to contribute to the dissemination of his scientific leadership philosophy.”

This year's prize is to be awarded at Karolinska Institutet's installation ceremony on the 12th of October 2017.

Volker M. Lauschke received his Ph.D. from the EMBL and the Combined Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics of the University of Heidelberg in 2013 for his work on tissue patterning using molecular oscillators. In 2014, he moved to Karolinska Institutet as a Marie-Curie fellow to work on the development and characterization of physiological hepatic model systems with the goal to study the molecular basis underlying inter-individual differences in dr ug response. After two years of postdoctoral studies at KI, Dr Lauschke became Assistant Professor at the Department of Physiology and Pharmacology in 2017 in the field of Liver Function and Regeneration.