2011

Sarstedt sponsors the 2011 Prize for Biochemical Analysis, worth EUR 50,000

(Dr. J. Rothberg, Prof. Dr. S. Pääbo)

On 17 May 2011, during the 21st International Congress of Laboratory Medicine in Berlin, the German Society for Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine awarded the Prize for Biochemical Analysis, worth EUR 50,000, to Dr. J. Rothberg and Prof. Dr. S. Pääbo.

Dr. J. Rothberg, a US genome researcher and biotechnologist, received his award for the development of a completely new method for a high-throughput procedure to represent DNA code, called ‘Next Generation Sequencing'. In doing so, he triggered a revolution in the decoding of genetic information.

‘Next Generation Sequencing’ allows the analysis of large genes, chromosomes and entire genomes on an individual basis in a short period of time and thus opens up the possibility of fully analysing the genetic material of an individual for the first time.

Prof. Dr. S. Pääbo, Head of the Leipzig Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, received the prize for his significant contributions to molecular archaeology and human evolutionary genetics. His demonstration that DNA can be obtained and sequenced from mummies and fossil remains of humans and animals, and the development of a suitable methodology for isolating and characterising fossil DNA, have given rise to these new areas of science.

With the help of Dr. J. Rothberg’s new analysis methods it was possible for him to decode the genetic material of early human forms for the first time (one prominent example is ‘Ötzi’, the iceman).

Back