Heinrich Draeger Research Award 2004

Dr. rer. nat. Katja Lohmann receives the inaugural Heinrich Draeger Science Award. She is being honored for her outstanding scientific publication on the molecular causes of Parkinson's disease. The award ceremony will take place on Saturday, November 13, 2004, at the University of Lübeck (10:15 a.m., lecture hall Z 1/2). Dr. Lohmann receives the prize for her publication "The importance of gene dosage studies: Mutational analysis of the parkin gene in early-onset parkinsonism" in the renowned scientific journal "Human Molecular Genetics" (2001;10:1649-1656). Publications in this journal have a particularly high impact factor among scientists (impact factor 9.3).

Dr. Katja Lohmann (née Hedrich), born in 1977 in Karl-Marx-Stadt (now Chemnitz), completed her doctorate at the University of Lübeck after studying biology in Halle-Wittenberg. She works in the Molecular Neurogenetics group (headed by Prof. Dr. med. Christine Klein) on research into the molecular genetic causes of various types of movement disorders.

In her work, which was awarded the Heinrich Draeger Research Award and originated at the Institute of Neurogenetics, Dr. Hedrich examined 21 patients from a geographical isolate in South Tyrol for mutations in the Parkin gene. She used a method she developed to detect heterozygous deletions and duplications in the parkin gene by quantitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR).

The Heinrich Draeger Research Award was established in 2004 by the Dräger family and Drägerwerk AG on the initiative of Mrs. Lisa Dräger.
Once a year, the University of Luebeck awards this prize in recognition of a particularly outstanding scientific publication based on results that were primarily generated at the university. The prize is awarded alternately to scientists from the STEM and Medicine faculties.