The award is named after the astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543). The prize money of €50,000 is donated by the DFG and the FNP in equal shares. This is divided evenly between the winners, who may use the prize money for any scientific purpose that is within the scope of the funding programmes of both organisations. The emphasis should, however, be on further advancing the joint promotion of young researchers. The DFG reached an agreement with the FNP last year on supporting cooperation between outstanding young researchers from all disciplines. Thus these research funding organisations made a significant step towards intensifying cooperation in research funding during 2005, a year that was dedicated to German-Polish relations.
The award winners:
Eberhard Schlicker and Barbara Malinowska are active in the fields of pharmacology and physiology. Their research focuses on the cannabinoid receptors and their effects. Cannabinoid receptors are receptors within the body in which addictive effects, but also the beneficial therapeutic effects of cannabis in any form, for example hashish, occur. This research aims to study both the neurochemical and the molecular basis of the effects of cannabinoids in the brain. This is significant for an improved understanding of disruption to the central nervous system.
Eberhard Schlicker studied medicine at the universities of Freiburg and Heidelberg. After receiving his doctorate he first worked at the universities of Heidelberg and Essen before finishing his habilitation at the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology in Bonn in 1986. In 1992 he was appointed to a professorship there.
Barbara Malinowska studied biology at the University of Warsaw. After receiving her doctorate at the University of Bia³ystok in Poland, she moved to the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology at the University of Bonn in 1991, where she worked with Eberhard Schlicker. She has been head of the Department of Experimental Physiology at the University of Bia³ystok since 1998.
Further Information:
For further information on the Copernicus Award, please contact Dr. Torsten Fischer, Programme Officer, DFG International Affairs Division, Tel. +49 (0) 228/885-2372, e-mail: torsten.fischer@dfg.de.
Further information can also be found at: http://www.dfg.de/en/news/scientific_prizes/copernicus_award/index.html