Six young researchers and scientists have been named as recipients of the 2006 Heinz Maier-Leibnitz Prize, which carries with it prize money of 16,000 euros. This year's winners were selected by the panel for their outstanding achievements in the fields of neuroscience, theoretical physics, classical philology, neuro-oncology, polymer chemistry and biophysics. The Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) awards the Heinz Maier-Leibnitz Prize, which is financed by the German Ministry of Education and Research, to young researchers and scientists in order to boost their research careers. The prize is named after Professor Heinz Maier-Leibnitz, an atomic physicist and former DFG president, who died in the year 2000. This year's award ceremony for the Heinz Maier-Leibnitz Prize will be held at the Max Liebermann House in Berlin on 13 June 2006.

The prizewinners are:

Laure Bally-Cuif (38), neuroscience, GSF National Research Center for Environment and Health, Munich

Laure Bally-Cuif, a neuroscientist, is investigating the mechanisms and factors that control the development of nerve cells and the central nervous system, as well as the functioning of the brain, in vertebrates. Her research concentrates on the zebrafish midbrain-hindbrain, which contains centres that strongly influence social behaviour. One focal point of her work is the function and regulation of certain genes for the development of this region of the brain. To satisfactorily consider the great complexity of the brain, her work takes an integrated approach to studying the various control functions and their interaction. In addition to this, she is also interested in certain molecular aspects of drug addiction.

Holger Gies (33), theoretical physics, Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of Heidelberg

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Contact: Dr. Eva-Maria Streier
em.streier@dfg.de
49-022-888-52250
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
12-Apr-2006