2021 - ANDREA ABLASSER
Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL)
Motivation
Her research focuses on mechanisms of innate immunity. She contributed to deciphering how cells respond to intracellular DNA as a signal of infection via the so-called cGAS-STING pathway - a fundamental discovery, which paved the way for promising new immunotherapies.
Her lab has a strong interest in understanding of mechanisms that control cGAS-STING activity and how these mechanisms contribute to distinct pathologies, including cancer.
About the Winner
Professor Andrea Ablasser obtained her MD at the University of Munich. After her post-doc at the University of Bonn, she joined the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL) as an Assistant Professor in 2014. In 2019, she was promoted to Associate Professor at EPFL.
Amongst several distinctions, Andrea Ablasser is recipient of the Coley Award, the Sanofi-Institut Pasteur Award, the National Latsis Prize, the ACTERIA Prize, and the Eppendorf Award, and she is an elected member of EMBO. She is the founding scientist of IFM Due, a biopharmaceutical company developing cGAS-STING antagonists for the treatment of inflammatory disorders.
