Prizes And Awards
Prof. Beyreuther First Hartwig Piepenbrock DZNE Prize Laureate:
The first Hartwig Piepenbrock DZNE Prize for outstanding research in the field of neurodegenerative diseases was awarded to the renowned Alzheimer's researcher Prof. Konrad Beyreuther, based at Heidelberg University. The prize is to honour Beyreuther for the discovery of the molecular properties of the amyloid protein, the key component of pathological accretions typically found in the brains of individuals suffering from Alzheimer's disease. Together with his colleagues, Beyreuther was able to illustrate how the protein accretions form and discovered how to impede this process in the test tube. As yet, Alzheimer's cannot be cured. But the well-founded hope to be able to develop new, effective methods of treatment or prevention within the next 10 to 15 years is considerably indebted to Beyreuther's research.
The prize, endowed with 60,000 Euro, is donated by the Piepenbrock Group and is awarded by an international scientific award committee coordinated by the German Centre for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE). The award ceremony took place in the context of the scientific conference on "Neurodegeneration and Ageing" hosted at Schloss Bensberg in Bergisch Gladbach.
