28 Mai 2019
Dr. Dr. Timo Speer received the Heinz Maier-Leibnitz-Award this year, the most important award for young investigators in Germany. The decision was made by a selection committee set up by the German Research Foundation (DFG) and the Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF) in Bonn. The laureates will each receive their awards and 20.000 Euros on May 28th in Berlin.
Lipid metabolism disorders are among the most important risk factors for arteriosclerotic vascular changes, which can lead to strokes or heart attacks. However, not all blood lipids are harmful. Thimoteus Speer was able to show that only specifically modified fats have an arterial damaging effect on kidney patients. More importantly, he could link these findings to newly discovered processes of chronic inflammation and elucidate some mechanistic details of this fatal interaction. Thus, he succeeded in building an important bridge between these two frequently occurring damage processes. Speer's findings enable the establishment of diagnostic precision medicine and the development of novel therapeutic strategies. Therefore, Speer's work impresses with its strong translational research approach.
On the basis of a double doctorate in human medicine and biology, he succeeded in combining outstanding basic research and translational research. This is also reflected in his positions as senior physician, laboratory chief of the Department for Experimental and Translational Nephrology and as the subproject leader of a DFG-funded Collaborative Research Center.