Erwin-Schrödinger-Prize 2017 for D-BSSE Chair Timm Schroeder

Timm Schroeder and his collaborators have developed a number of methods to better quantify cell behaviour and predict the fate of individual cells. The team generated accurate single-cell microscopy movies, analysed genomic or protein expression data from individual cells, and applied methods from informatics, mathematics and machine learning.
 
This interdisciplinary approach provides spectacular insights into the dynamic heterogeneity of individual blood cells. The scientists have corrected previous assumptions about the molecular control of blood cell lineage decisions. They furthermore found gene expression patterns that allow insights into early differentiation processes in blood cells.
 
At the Helmholtz Association’s annual conference on September 14, Schroeder and his collaborators have been awarded the Erwin-Schrödinger-Prize 2017 for their interdisciplinary research. With this award - endowed with 50’000 euros - the Helmholtz Association and the Stifterverband für die Deutsche Wissenschaft honor outstanding scientific or technically innovative achievements in the areas of medicine, the natural sciences, and engineering.

As Timm Schroeder concludes: "The Erwin-Schrödinger-Prize honors interdisciplinary work to highlight both, its importance, and the difficulties of working across the borders between disciplines. The Department for Biosystems Science and Engineering is specifically set up for work between biologists, engineers and theoreticians. Receiving this price very nicely underlines the importance of this interdisciplinary approach in both my own research and the D-BSSE’s strategy."