Helmholtz International Fellow Award for Sarah Amalia Teichmann

“I cannot imagine a better award winner,” says Prof. Dr. Dr. Fabian Theis, Director of the Institute of Computational Biology (ICB) at the Helmholtz Zentrum München, who was pleased to see the award go to his nomination.

“She is highly qualified and her research is very close to the topics our center is focused on. This makes her the perfect candidate for this award.” Moreover, Teichmann and Theis already collaborate in the framework of the project ‘Human Cell Atlas’. Moreover, the researcher, who was born in Karlsruhe, is the only award winner from the medical sector in this period.

The 41-year-old first made a name for herself in the field of the structure analysis of proteins. During her doctoral studies at the University of Cambridge, she already participated in 15 publications. In the course of her career, she then added the analysis of DNA and whole genomes to her list of accomplishments. This was particularly exciting in the mid-1990s, because it was exactly at this time that the first genomes were mapped.

Further work led her to the newly emerging research field of network biology, before she moved to the EMBL – European Bioinformatics Institute and the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute in 2013. Her current research there as head of cellular genetics is primarily dedicated to the global regulation of gene expression and research into single cell data (genome, epigenome, transcriptome) in order to trace the developments in individual cells.

More than 120 publications and 16,000 citations impressively underscore her achievements to date. She is also listed as study leader in publications in journals such as ‘Science’ and ‘Cell’ and is a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences. Numerous funding measures, including an ERC Consolidator Grant on the topic of single cell analyses, likewise bear witness to the respect her research enjoys.

The festive handover ceremony is scheduled for the 5th of May 2017 at the Helmholtz Campus in Neuherberg near Munich.

Further information

The Helmholtz International Fellow Award was first awarded in 2012. Since then, the award has been presented each year to ten scientists in total in two selection rounds. So far, a total of 63 people have received the award. The prize is financed from the Helmholtz president's Initiative and Networking Fund. The Helmholtz centers nominate the candidates, and the Helmholtz President’s Council selects the award winners. Applications for the next selection round must be filed by 11 May 2017. The selection will be made at the President’s Council meeting to be held at the end of June 2017.

The Helmholtz Zentrum München, the German Research Center for Environmental Health, pursues the goal of developing personalized medical approaches for the prevention and therapy of major common diseases such as diabetes and lung diseases. To achieve this, it investigates the interaction of genetics, environmental factors and lifestyle. The Helmholtz Zentrum München is headquartered in Neuherberg in the north of Munich and has about 2,300 staff members. It is a member of the Helmholtz Association, a community of 18 scientific-technical and medical-biological research centers with a total of about 37,000 staff members. http://www.helmholtz-muenchen.de/en

The Institute of Computational Biology (ICB) develops and applies methods for the model-based description of biological systems, using a data-driven approach by integrating information on multiple scales ranging from single-cell time series to large-scale omics. Given the fast technological advances in molecular biology, the aim is to provide and collaboratively apply innovative tools with experimental groups in order to jointly advance the understanding and treatment of common human diseases. http://www.helmholtz-muenchen.de/icb

Contact for the media:
Department of Communication, Helmholtz Zentrum München – German Research Center for Environmental Health, Ingolstädter Landstr. 1, 85764 Neuherberg – Tel. +49 89 3187 2238 – Fax: +49 89 3187 3324 – E-mail: presse@helmholtz-muenchen.de

Scientific Contact:
Prof. Dr. Dr. Fabian Theis, Helmholtz Zentrum München – German Research Center for Environmental Health, Institute of Computational Biology, Ingolstädter Landstr. 1, 85764 Neuherberg – Tel. +49 89 3187 4030, E-mail: fabian.theis@helmholtz-muenchen.de