2010 FEBS/EMBO Women in Science award honours Ingrid Grummt

15-02-2010: The European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) and the Federation of European Biochemical Societies (FEBS) announced Ingrid Grummt from the German Cancer Research Center in Heidelberg, Germany, as the winner of the 2010 FEBS/EMBO Women in Science Award. Ingrid Grummt has made important contributions to the field of transcriptional regulation in cells throughout her career.

The FEBS/EMBO Women in Science Award, now in its third year, recognizes and rewards the exceptional achievements of a female researcher in molecular biology over the previous five years. Winners of the award are role models who inspire future generations of women in science.

“Ingrid Grummt is an outstanding scientist who has made seminal contributions in the field of regulation of gene expression, including the very recent discoveries that link ageing and some inherited diseases with the silencing of genes required for cell growth,” said selection committee member Claudio Sunkel, Director of the Institute of Molecular and Cellular Biology in Porto, Portugal.

The 2010 winner is distinguished not only for scientific contributions but also for her commitment to the development of European science through her active service on various advisory boards, panels and scientific committees.

“It is important to me to inspire young women to face personal and professional challenges, to help them mobilize their strengths when in doubt and motivate and encourage them to keep their eyes on their goals. I think that integrating career and personal goals makes people happier and more productive in the long run,” said the award winner.

Prior to joining the German Cancer Research Center, Ingrid was a post-doctoral fellow at the German Academy of Sciences in Berlin and the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry in Munich, and led a research group at the University in Würzburg, Germany. She was honoured with prestigious awards such as the Science Prize of the Fritz-Winter-Foundation and the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz-Prize for German scientists. The 2010 FEBS/EMBO Women in Science Award of 10,000 euro will be presented to Ingrid Grummt on 30 June at the 35th FEBS Congress in Gothenburg, Sweden, where she will present a special lecture.