Andrea Ablasser awarded the Cloëtta Prize 2024
Andrea Ablasser. Credit: EPFL
Professor Andrea Ablasser at EPFL’s School of Life Sciences is one of the two awardees of the 2024 Cloëtta Prize.
The Professor Dr Max Cloëtta Foundation was set up in Zürich in 1973 by Dr Antoine Cloëtta to honour his father, Professor Max Cloëtta, a Swiss pharmacologist. The Foundation supports and promotes “medical research and related scientific disciplines in Switzerland and abroad”, and each year awards the Cloëtta Prize “to honor Swiss and foreign personalities who have rendered outstanding services to specific areas of medical research.”.
This year, the Cloëtta Foundation has awarded the Prize to two prestigious scientists, Professor Andrea Alimonti at the Institute of Oncology Research (affiliated with USI and member of Bios+) and Professor Andrea Ablasser at EPFL (School of Life Sciences.)
Professor Ablasser's research has been instrumental in uncovering how the innate immune system detects and responds to DNA from pathogens. Her work has opened new avenues for the development of therapies aimed at modulating the immune response, thereby offering potential treatments for a variety of diseases.
Recently, her studies have shown how the cGAS-STING DNA-sensing pathway is involved in chronic inflammation and neurodegeneration associated with aging, providing insights that could lead to novel strategies for combating these conditions.
In addition to the Cloëtta Prize, Professor Ablasser has received numerous accolades throughout her career, including the NOMIS Award in 2024, the Paul Martini Prize in 2023, the William B. Coley Award in 2020, the EMBO Gold Medal in 2021, and the National Latsis Prize in 2018. Her contributions to the scientific community extend beyond her research, as she actively participates in fostering scientific dialogue and collaboration.
Each winner of the Cloëtta Prize also receives a sum of 50,000 Swiss francs. The Prize will be awarded during a ceremony on Friday, 29 November 2024 in Lausanne.