On 6 July 2021, the "Physik-Preis Dresden" of TU Dresden and the Max Planck Institute for Physics of Complex Systems (MPI-PKS) was awarded to Professor Gijsje Koenderink from the TU Delft. Gijsje Koenderink is an outstanding experimental biophysicist with a series of groundbreaking papers on cell mechanics and cellular force generation.

In recognition of her outstanding contributions to the physics of cells, Gijsje Koenderink receives the  "Physik-Preis Dresden" 2021, jointly awarded by the Max Planck Institute for Physics of Complex Systems and TU Dresden.

Gijsje Koenderink's research is of great interest to a number of research groups in Dresden, especially within the Cluster of Excellence "Physics of Life". The awarding of the "Physik-Preis Dresden" to Professor Koenderink creates a valuable link between her research group and research in the fields of polymer physics, soft condensed matter, biophysics and cell biology in Dresden.

Host of the evening, Prof. Dr. Frank Jülicher, Director at the Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems, was extremely pleased that with Gijsje Koenderink such an important international research personality was honored.

The "Physik-Preis Dresden" was endowed in 2015 by Dresden physicist Prof. Peter Fulde, the founding director of the MPI-PKS. The award winners are determined by a joint commission of the TU Dresden and the MPI-PKS. In addition to the central criterion of scientific excellence, it is particularly important for the decision that the work of the award winners is of special significance for the collaboration between the two Dresden-concept partners MPI-PKS and TU Dresden and that their connection has been further strengthened in the long term.