The selection committee of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation has followed the nomination of TU Dresden and awarded Professor Michael Sieweke a Humboldt Professorship. One of the most renowned research awards is therefore bestowed upon the cell biologist, who is currently Directeur de Recherche at the Centre National de la Recherche (CNRS) Paris and Group Leader at the Centre d'Immunologie de Marseille-Luminy in France.

The award was announced today (30 May 2017) by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation and the Federal Ministry of Education and Research. Each award-winning Humboldt professor is endowed with up to five million euros for five years. "The acquisition of a Humboldt professorship is always a great success and confirms the excellent positioning of our scientific works," says Prof. Hans Müller-Steinhagen, Rector of TU Dresden. "We are very pleased that the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation has followed our proposal. Soon after Professor Jochen Guck, there could now be a second Humboldt Professor at TU Dresden to further strengthen our Research Priority Area Health Sciences, Biomedicine and Bioengineering."

Professor Michael Sieweke's research area is in the field of mechanisms of blood formation. He has delivered internationally recognised work, which could be of importance for possible future cellular therapy approaches. Sieweke discovered, for example, an emergency mechanism that quickly responds to threats such as severe infections and inflammations, supplying the body with new white blood cells. In the case of infections and inflammations, stem cells can thus react to cytokines and then stimulate the production of special blood cells that fight pathogens. Associated with Sieweke's research is the hope that such a mechanism could, for example, help to establish a functional immune system more rapidly after future bone marrow transplants. Professor Sieweke is now to further position research in the field of tissue regeneration at the DFG Research Center for Regenerative Therapies in Dresden - Cluster of Excellence at TU Dresden (CRTD), and to promote in particular the medium-term medical implementation of researches. "With his world class work and knowledge on cells that are central to tissue inflammation, repair, and regeneration, Professor Sieweke will play a pivotal role in bringing our research toward clinical application," states Prof. Ezio Bonifacio, Managing Director at the CRTD of TU Dresden.

Michael Sieweke was born in Germany in 1963. He studied in Heidelberg, and earned his doctorate at the University of California, Berkeley, USA. After his habilitation, he moved to France in 1999.  

The Alexander von Humboldt professorship is endowed with up to five million euros and enables German universities to offer globally leading scientists - who had so far been working abroad - long-term internationally competitive framework conditions, thus bringing future-oriented research to Germany. The prize money is, first of all, intended for their initial five years of research in Germany. In return, the proposed university commits to attractive long-term prospects. The prize is awarded by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation and funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research.

Michael Sieweke is now in appointment negotiations with Technische Universität Dresden, which has nominated him for the prize.

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