Andrea Ablasser wins Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter Prize
© 2024 EPFL
Professor Andrea Ablasser at EPFL has been awarded the Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter Prize 2025, one of the most esteemed honors in the medical field. Recognized for her pioneering work in innate immunity, Ablasser shares the award with Glen Barber and Zhijian J. Chen for their discovery of the cGAS-STING signaling pathway, which plays a key role in the body’s defense against infections and cancer.
The Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter Prize is Germany’s most prestigious medical award, endowed with 120,000 euros. Presented annually, it recognizes scientists who have made exceptional contributions to fields such as immunology, cancer research, hematology, microbiology, and chemotherapy. Established in 1952, the prize is supported by the German Federal Ministry of Health, pharmaceutical companies, and foundations, and is awarded by the Paul Ehrlich Foundation’s Board of Trustees.
The 2025 Prize has been awarded to has been awarded to Professor Andrea Ablasser at EPFL, along with Glen Barber from Ohio State University and biochemist Zhijian “James” Chen from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center.
The award honors the prizewinners for discovering the cGAS-STING signaling pathway, which is the body’s “alarm system” that warns when DNA enters a cell’s cytosol during infection, cancer or cellular stress. When cGAS-STING sounds the alarm, it calls the body’s first line of defense, the innate immune system, into action.
“The cGAS-STING signaling pathway is a foundation of our innate immune defense that has long been sought after,” says Professor Thomas Boehm, chairman of the Paul Ehrlich Foundation’s Scientific Council. “With their discovery, the award winners have opened up the possibility for medicine to treat infections, cancer and inflammatory diseases more effectively than before.”
Professor Ablasser's research has been instrumental in uncovering how the innate immune system detects and responds to DNA from pathogens. Recently, her studies have shown how the cGAS-STING pathway is involved in chronic inflammation and neurodegeneration associated with aging, providing insights that could lead to novel strategies for combating these conditions.
Ablasser’s work has opened new avenues for the development of therapies aimed at modulating the immune response, offering potential treatments for a variety of diseases. Her contributions to the scientific community extend beyond her research, as she actively participates in fostering scientific dialogue and collaboration.
In addition to the Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter Prize, Professor Ablasser has received numerous accolades throughout her career, including the Cloëtta Prize, 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. In 2014, she was awarded the Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter Early Career Award for characterizing cGAMP in detail and showing that its production and structure differ chemically from those of other dinucleotides.
Official announcement from Goethe University Frankfurt