Professor Dr. Christian Frezza from the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom has been selected by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation to be awarded the ‘Alexander von Humboldt Professorship – International Award for Research in Germany’. The University of Cologne, which proposed Professor Frezza for this award, is currently in ongoing negotiations with the scientist. If the negotiations are successful, Professor Frezza will be awarded the 2021 prize and will become professor for ‘Metabolomics and Aging’ at the University of Cologne.
Christian Frezza is an internationally recognized scientist and leading expert in the field of metabolomics, the study of metabolites which are small molecules produced during metabolism. He was nominated for the award by the Medical Faculty and the Cluster of Excellence for Aging Research CECAD at the University of Cologne. ‘The award of the professorship is a huge success. Christian Frezza is an outstanding scientist who is internationally renowned for developing novel methodology for the sensitive and large-scale analysis of thousands of metabolites. He thus uncovered new roles for metabolism in the regulation of cellular behavior in health and disease, especially cancer,’ said Prof. Dr. Carien Niessen, scientific coordinator of CECAD. ‘He is an ideal candidate whose unique scientific profile would profoundly complement, strengthen and enhance the life science campus of the University of Cologne.’
He currently conducts research as a program leader in the field of Cancer Metabolism at the MRC Cancer Unit, University of Cambridge. Frezza started his scientific career in his home country Italy and received his doctorate in Padova in 2008. An EMBO long-term grant from the European Molecular Biology Organization brought him to the Cancer Research UK Beatson Institute for Cancer Research in Glasgow, Scotland. In 2012 he then moved to Cambridge.
‘I am honored to have been selected as a recipient of the Alexander von Humboldt Professorship. This professorship will enable me to consolidate and expand our work on metabolism in a vibrant environment at the University of Cologne, and to build new and exciting collaborations,’ said Frezza.
An Alexander von Humboldt Professorship is awarded to internationally leading researchers from all disciplines who have worked abroad. The prize money of five million euros is intended for the first five years of research in Germany and is intended to enable the award winner to carry out pioneering research at a German university.
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Further information:
https://www.humboldt-foundation.de/web/alexander-von-humboldt-professur.html