Magdalena Götz receives Hector Science Award 2023
January 30, 2024
By awarding the Science Award 2023 to BMC scientist Magdalena Götz and Klaus-Robert Müller (TU Berlin and Berlin Institute for the Foundations of Learning and Data), the Hector Foundation II is recognizing the outstanding research achievements of the two researchers in the fields of stem cell biology and neurobiology as well as machine learning and artificial intelligence.
Early on, Magdalena Götz investigated the question of how the brain is formed, how neurons are generated and how they are correctly connected. She made the groundbreaking discovery that the brain's stem cells are actually glial cells. Glial cells had previously only been regarded as supporting cells. Inspired by this finding, Magdalena Götz took the pioneering approach of stimulating glial cells in the adult brain to form neurons. The formation of neurons normally stops after birth. If neurons die, for example after brain injuries or in neurodegenerative diseases, they cannot be replaced.
Magdalena Götz succeeded - in cell culture and in preclinical models - in forming neurons from adult glial cells by introducing regulatory factors that are only present during brain development. She then pursued this approach further with human glial cells and investigated the reaction of glial cells in human brains in the context of various diseases. She was able to show how important the metabolism of the cells is in this context. The next step for Magdalena Götz's team is to generate different types of neurons, which could one day lead to entirely new therapeutic approaches.
Klaus-Robert Müller is one of the world's most recognized scientists in the field of artificial intelligence research. His basic research at the interface of machine learning and quantum mechanics has attracted a great deal of attention.
The Foundation's Executive Board and previous award winners met at the "Europäischer Hof" hotel in Heidelberg for the award ceremony. Founder Dr. h.c. Hans-Werner Hector welcomed the two award-winning researchers to the circle of now 30 "Hector Fellows", who are jointly committed to interdisciplinary cutting-edge research in Germany. The two laudators, Prof. Dr. Dr. Christian Haass (LMU) and Prof. Dr. Bernhard Schölkopf (Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems, Tübingen), agreed that Magdalena Götz and Klaus-Robert Müller will enrich the "Hector Fellow Academy", which promotes promising young scientists, with the excellence of their basic research, but also with their highly inspiring enthusiasm for breaking new ground.
The Science Award, endowed with €150,000, is awarded annually to outstanding scientists at German universities and research institutions.