Max Planck Director Petra Schwille receives Otto Warburg Medal
Düsseldorf. On September 16th 2022, Petra Schwille, Director of the Department "Cellular and Molecular Biophysics" at the Max Planck Institute (MPI) of Biochemistry in Martinsried, will receive the Otto Warburg Medal 2021. The award ceremony will take place during the fall conference of the German Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (GBM). The Otto Warburg Medal 2021 honors Petra Schwille's outstanding research work, which is also of great international interest. "I am very pleased about the recognition of my research and the attention that our approach to synthetic biology is thereby receiving. Investigating the elementary principles of cellular life has always held a special fascination for me and has so far opened up many exciting insights for us. It is therefore a great honor for me to receive this medal," says Petra Schwille, expressing her gratitude for the award.
At the MPI of Biochemistry, Petra Schwille has made it her goal to understand the fundamental principles of life. In order to do so, she is investigating self-assembly processes of biomolecules that may have been crucial for the development of the first cells. Through her work, she aims to gain new insights into basic principles of evolution, and thus into the emergence of the complexity of biological life. Ultimately, the physico-chemical prerequisites for the formation of the phenomenon of life are to be uncovered. Petra Ullrich, Marketing Director Europe at Elsevier, co-sponsor of the Otto Warburg Medal, says: "I am immensely pleased to honor a scientist who helps us understand the fundamental features of life and who is also an inspiration and role model for many young researchers."