On the occasion of this year’s Leibniz Conference on Bioactive Compounds, Prof. Dr. Yvonne Mast, head of the department Bioresources for Bioeconomy and Health Research of the DSMZ - German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures GmbH and professor at the Institute of Microbiology at the Technical University Braunschweig, Germany, received the award Leibniz Drug of the Year 2024. Her research group at the DSMZ received the award together with colleagues from the University of Stuttgart, the University of Gothenburg and researchers from the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research in Braunschweig at the end of April 2024 for a study describing a new genetic engineering approach towards the derivatization of bioactive compounds. Precisely, this involves a biotransformation-coupled mutasynthesis procedure for the generation of novel pristinamycin derivatives. Pristinamycin is an antibiotic synthesized by the bacterium Streptomyces pristinaespiralis.
The Leibniz Conference on Bioactive Compounds is held by the Leibniz Research Network Bioactive Compounds. It provides diverse networking and dialogue opportunities for researchers, amongst each other and with industry representatives. This year, it was hosted by the Leibniz Institute on Aging – Fritz-Lipmann-Institute (FLI) in Jena. On April 24 and 25, 70 scientists from around the world met to gather in the Thuringian research hub. For further information, please visit https://www.leibniz-wirkstoffe.de
Source & Image Credit: Leibniz Institute DSMZ
